Minecraft Battle:The Trip into Unknown
by Range Aquarius
Summary: (Sequel to Minecraft Battle : A Twist in Life) Stuck in a world that we know but doesn't. On Earth, its inhabitants are poisoned slowly, marching towards death. Here, if we let even only our guard down, we are no more. It's all stressful... But at the same time, so full of adventures.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome back everyone to a brand new art of the story! Now I hope that it would be the same batch of readers as last time, and if you are new and you hadn't read the last part of the story, go do it. The story goes on and on, and you might be confused if you dropped in halfway. Anyway, good luck and Game On!**

 _Hakime POV_

I tried starting up my phone, thinking that it wasn't possible. The last time I checked, which is probably 2 weeks ago, it is at 17%. It should have been dead already, but I was greeted by an infinity symbol replacing whatever should have been beside the battery symbol.

"Guys," I turned to the others and waved my phone. "This is impossible, right? I mean, having infinite battery,"

Duncan took the phone from my hand and started inspecting it. "This is impossible," He said after a while, returning the phone. "But this is Minecraft; everything is not logical,"

We punched down a few trees and made a crafting table after we woke up. It was until then that I realize that punching trees hurts a lot. Also, all the wood we got disappeared in a puff of smoke as soon as we stepped close to it. At first, we didn't know how to make a crafting table until Aquarius reached up and swiped her index finger down, like she's using an iPad. A few dots came up, and Aquarius explored every one of those dots until she found the inventory and the crafting grid. I'll admit that the way she did the first gesture was like Sword Art Online. Maybe she watched that too.

We are waiting for Rob and Jason to come back with as much cobblestone as they could get with 2 wooden pickaxes each. None of us want to go through punching wood with our bare hands again, so we tried making our wood last. 4 pickaxes could get us enough cobblestones for stone swords, at least, and maybe a little extra for stone pickaxes.

"Hey, guys," Rex looked up after a while. "Notch mentioned a few gods that only exists in mods. What if this world is like a modded world?"

"Where Notch picks out bits of this world to make the Minecraft right now?" Vikk asked. "Maybe you're right, dude,"

A short while later, Rob and Jason came back with quite a lot of cobblestone. After arming ourselves, we set off in the direction where Sky and Jason saw a town. It should be alright if it is just villagers. They don't usually care what we do in their village; they only cared for themselves.

As we travelled, Mitch and Jerome murdered some animals. We thought that they would go up in smoke like the game, but instead we have to kill it, like in real life. We tried our best to remove their meat and skin them, but we could only do one-fifth of it. It's tiring but at least we have enough food.

We approached the town. It has a medieval-style gate, but beyond that are modern-looking houses. We saw villagers and humans beyond the gates, minding their own businesses. Once in a while, we would see iron golems passing. They are more terrifying than those in the game. They have thick chain-like arms, and they are all spattered with dried blood and, strangely, different bright colors. Maybe the villager kids and human kids did them. Whatever.

"Mum!" One of the villager kids saw us outside the gates. "Mum! There are people out there!"

The mother looked up from her knitting. Her eyes widened as she saw us and whispered something into the ears of another female human nearby. She stood up and ran off.

"Uhm, should we run?" Metro hid behind me. "They might be planning to kill us or something…"

A group of soldier approached us. We could've fought them, but our weapons are no match for their iron ones. Plus, they are wearing armor. They'd skewer us before we ever get to hurt them.

"Hybrids," One of the soldiers with fancy-looking armor snickered. "Here to collect tax again?"

"Again?" Lachlan looked blank. "We just arrived here, mate,"

We meant that we just arrived in this world, but the soldier mistook the meaning. "Do you think we would believe your word?" He laughed evil. "Don't even think about it," He raised his spear and yelled at the other soldiers. "Charge!"

"Fuck, shit," Neonz muttered. We did the only sensible thing: we bolted. The whole group of soldiers charged after us, laughing and yelling insults. Most went over my head, since I had no idea what they're talking about. But Aquarius' face got even sour as every insult was shouted. She looks like she would cream the whole group and blend them. And trust me: it is plenty scary.

We ran back into the forest. The trees are low, and the soldiers are riding horses. Unless they dismount, they won't be able to pass the trees. If they stopped to do so, we would be long gone.

And of course, luck wasn't on our side. An arrow sank into Simon's calf, and he yelped as he stumbled. We have to stop and haul him along, and the soldiers took the chance and circled us. We're officially trapped.

"Look at them," Mr. Fancy Pants pointed his enchanted spear at Aquarius' nose. The shifting purple light made her face look even scarier than the time I punched her off a cliff in Minecraft. "The once mighty hybrids. Now they are just a bunch of cowards running away from us. They are weaklings, prey for us,"

"Sir," One of the soldiers pointed at Isaac. "This guy killed my father before. Do I get to kill him?"

"Go ahead," Fancy Pants yawned. "We are going to finish them off, anyway,"

The soldier drew his sword, and grinned at Isaac as he advanced. Two of the soldiers nearest to Isaac grip him tightly to prevent him from escaping. This is all a fudging nightmare.

"I've always wanted to try this," Aquarius put on her crazy smile suddenly. She looked even scarier when she did that. That is the exact expression she gave me after she went back to the cliff and discovered that all her stuff had despawned, including her favorite sword. In a swift motion, she pulled the spear from Fancy Pants' hands and jabbed him in the chinks of his armor. He fell off his horse.

"Run!" She yelled before we even recover from her actions. We burst through the crowd and raced back to the same town, for some reason. The soldier recovered and chased after us, yelling furiously and calling the town guards for backup. The guards tried dropping the gates, but we raced through before it hit us. Aquarius thrusted the spear into some random folks' hand, saying "Happy Birthday," as she did so. We ran further before finding a barn big enough for all of us to hide. We ran in and I hid under a pile of hay. World-class horror, man.


	2. Chapter 2

**Update at school! xD Important notice below, so pay attention!**

 **Let's see. SSundee versus MrCrainer on TimelessPvP, Lachlan versus Vikkstar on TreasureWars, Preston versus Woofless on Cosmic. I think the three teams should do a three way war against each server team, meaning TimelessPvP versus TreasureWars versus Cosmic. Where they should do this war on is a problem. Maybe once on each server?**

 _BajanCanadian POV_

I have to hide among a herd of cows in one of the pens. Luckily it wasn't smelly or else I'd be torturing myself. All of us stayed low as the soldiers charged past the door, yelling insults at us. Like what Hakime had said, we understand none of their words. They acted like we should understand and feel bad about it.

"This sucks, man," Jerome whispered from a pen of horses nearby. "We can't hide here forever. They would find us anytime soon,"

Before I could reply, a figure came into the barn. He looked around outside before shutting the door. Then, he flicked the lights on. None of us moved. He might be one of the soldiers who are off-duty. If he catches us, we're screwed.

"Come out, all of you," He approached the cow pen where I'm hiding. "It's safe now. They won't find you here,"

When none of us moved, he sighed and pulled me out of the cows' pen by my ear. That was plain embarrassing, I'm telling you. The others started coming out of their hiding places and stood around the mysterious guy warily. He might turn us in.

"It's okay, don't be afraid," He said like he is calming down scared animals. "I promise that I won't turn all of you in. In fact, you're safe with me,"

"Swear it on the river Styx," Aquarius tilted her chin. "Do it,"

"I swear on the river Styx that I would not turn any of you in," He said. "Now, you guys don't seem to understand those rogues' sentences. What's wrong?"

"It wasn't in our chunk of memory," Jason said. He is still wearing his suit. "Maybe they mistook us for someone else?"

"They didn't," The guy shook his head. "You looked younger than the last time we saw you. Did you guys reborn?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Ian scratched his head. "When was the last time 'we' came?"

"About 40 years ago," The guy said. "I was still a kid back then. You guys were brutal, by the way,"

"Which was inherited to this life, but under control," Aquarius said under her breath.

"Oh, I hadn't introduced myself, had I?" The guy didn't hear Aquarius, thank god. "I am NickJr, but you can call me Nick for short. I see that you all have stone gear, want some of my leftover gear? It might be used but it is better than what you got,"

"That's very kind of you," Vikk said, and we followed him to the back of his barn. Apparently he had a secret basement for weapons and armor. The whole place is filled from the top to bottom with swords, axes, armor and much more. It's almost like my collection room on the Crazycraft server, except this looks messier.

"Pick whatever you want," Nick gestured at the massive pile of gear. We dug in while he tended to his animals. Jerome picked a double-bladed axe with dried blood on it. He said that of all the axes in the room, this looks the sharpest. I picked two swords that looked like the Ultimate Sword and an Ultimate Axe just in case. Aquarius picked, of all weapons, a scythe and a big sword. I asked if she has the strength to lift the two weapons and she told me to shut up. Well, we'll see later.

We also picked our armor. Nick said that he had a lot of diamond armor, so we took those. It's only enough for 21 of us, so Nick added emerald, ruby and amethyst armor from his own collection. "It's okay," He winked. "I can always make more,"

It's hard to decide who gets which armor, though. None of us know each other's fighting strength, so we kind of have to fight to get the one we wanted. We bickered until Aquarius said to let those who had learned self-defending skills have better armor. That means Neonz, Hakime and Rex. They got ruby, amethyst and emerald each, where Neonz complained that the ruby armor looked 'too girly'. **(I apologized if your favorite Youtuber didn't get the best armor. Somehow we need the stronger ones to have the better ones so they can still protect us :P)**

"I'll send you out at night," Nick told us later, while he cooked the meat we got. "I'd sent a decoy telling those soldiers that you're out of town. They went north, so you guys go west. By morning you should arrive at a village. Those people are friendly, so you should be okay,"

"Wasn't travelling at night dangerous?" Mass shuddered. "There are mobs everywhere, and we don't even know what kind of mobs are out there,"

"Oh, you'll be fine," Nick reached over and patted his head, smearing his hair with meat juice in the process. "You have good armor and weapons. You should be able to survive the night,"

"Except for Mass, I think," Duncan pointed at Mass' head. "The zombies won't stop until they got to his head,"

Mass went and cleaned up his hair. At dusk, Nick took us towards the western wall, where there are fewer guards. There was a crack in the wall and for some reason, the town council never patch it up. Tonight it would be our way out of this strange town.

"Stay safe," He shook our hands. There's much to explain, and we don't have much time. The village you are going to is made of sandstone, and is in the middle of the dark oak forest. When you are there, ask to see the village high priest. Say that NickJr sent you,"

"We will," Aquarius promised. "When we are safe, we will find a way to send you a message,"

"I would be looking forward to it," Nick smiled. We waved at him one last time before squeezing out of the hole and into the forest beyond.

 _MetroMass POV_

For some reason, most of the mobs are hiding from us.

We crossed into the dark oak forest without any problem. Some came at us, but they were murdered instantly. The others, especially the infernal ones, stayed far from us. Since none of them are in our way, we leave them to mind their own business.

We kept an eye out for something yellow, which is the sandstone, or light, meaning the village. It is hard for us since we are in the middle of a dense forest. I know that we can fly clear of the leaves to find our destination, but none of us know how to change back into our supernatural form. Wait… Jason can do it, right?

"Jason?" I tugged at his blue spacesuit, and he looked at me. I can't see his glowing eyes through the orange-tinted glass, which is strange. "Can you fly upwards? Maybe you can see where this village is at,"

Jason nodded and did so. A little while later, he flew back down and reported what he saw.

"It is not far from us," He said. "I say we walk on top of the canopy. We can't even see a thing down here,"

We did so, and soon came to the village Nick was talking about. Now I knew why we can't find this village. It is surrounded by obsidian from the ground to the top of the canopy. The village is bigger than the usual ones, and there are villagers milling around with swords. Something tells me that they are not ones to be messed around.

"Best put away our weapons," Sky said. "If they think we're attacking them, we're screwed,"

I sheathed my sword and jumped down to solid ground. Walking on the leaves feels weird. It's like walking on mud, but it wasn't slippery. I was beyond happy to be able to stand on solid ground again.

The villagers immediately surrounded us, swords at the ready. None of us dare to move. From my movie-watching experience, we would be chopped up as soon as we move a muscle.

"Guys," Aquarius said. "We are not here to fight or whatsoever. We are here to find someone, and we come in peace,"

"Looking for our high priest?" One snickered. "Don't even think about it. Last time you were here, you almost killed him,"

Seems like we did a lot of bad things in our past life, huh?

"Nick said they would be friendly?" Preston barely whispered. "Why are they pointing swords at us?"

What looks like the leader of the guards' team lowered his blade, but his eyes never leave us. "Nick? NickJr?"

"Yeah," Preston puffed up his cheeks like a kid. "He lied to us, apparently. We keep on getting the 'sword-point' treatment,"

The whole squad lowered their swords. "You were reborn, apparently," The leader said. "Come with me. If Nick sent you, it must be something important,"

Escorted by the squad, we arrived at a tower situated in the middle of the village. It is made of sandstone as well, but the roof is red. Wasn't red the color of evil? Are we going to meet an evil wizard?

After telling us to go in alone, the whole squad scattered. I really want to run away from this creepy tower, but we have come this far. I tried reassuring myself by gripping my sword. It helped a little, but my nerves are still jumpy.

Rex patted my shoulder as Aquarius reached out to open the door. A gust of cold wind blew out of the door and we are sucked into the tower.

 **Okay, this part ends, and I have news!**

 **I'll start taking OCs for my book. I know it's late, but I don't need it till now. If your OC got chosen, the team of hybrids would be able to meet them on their journey to Fiore! (have you guys forgotten about their point of journeying)**

 **Name: (could be usernames, it doesn't matter)**

 **Age: (give an approximate one; people don't usually give their age at first meeting)**

 **Appearance: (eye color, hair color, skin tone and clothing.)**

 **Personality: (hot-tempered, kind, impatient, or something related.)**

 **Weapon: (hey, Minecrafters should at least have weapons, don't they? Mine is a spiked pizza paddle :P)**

 **Okay that's all. I gotta go. Hope you guys would actually submit the OCs :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Everytime I heard 'Chasing Storm' and 'More than this', I thought of those sad, sad Vikklan fanfictions I'd read. Reasons? I'm listening to these two songs while I read, so they are kind of planted in my head. Same for a selected few Korean musics. When I listened to 'I got a boy', I thought of the Minecraft classic server that was closed. I had a great time there :( Enjoy the story anyway.**

 _Skydoesminecraft POV_

They really should stop knocking us out.

I woke up in a room made of stone bricks, all by myself. The room is three blocks to three blocks, and is the same height. In the middle of the room is an orb, which is glowing blue and purple and white. I put my hand on it, and a voice spoke in my head.

 _Speak, hero. Bring forth your question._

I pulled my hand away immediately. This is creepier than those horror maps that I've played. At least I knew that something is going to jump scare me.

I stared at the orb, unsure whether to put my hand back on it. The orb told me to ask a question, didn't it? How in the world could an orb solve my question?

I placed my hand on the orb and found myself floating in pure darkness. Somehow, I knew that the darkness wasn't hostile. It doesn't intend to swallow me. It just wants to have a little chat. Funny.

I looked around. Floating is hard to pinpoint direction. I don't like to speak to someone with my butt facing them. Still, they didn't tell me where they are, so I guess it doesn't matter.

"What's my destiny?" I asked, guessing at the same time. Maybe I'll get eaten by spiders as soon as this is over. Or maybe I'll get skewered by some unknown being. Either way, I was curious. Who won't want to know about their future?

Instead of a poem-like prophecy, something shimmered in front of me. A square portal opened, and a guy in teal-colored T-shirt and blue jeans stepped out of the portal. He looks exactly like those Steve fan arts online, but he wasn't THAT muscular. His eyes are white and glowing, like mine.

 _My son._ He reached out and brushed my cheek. It feels warm, with the feeling of electricity. _You've grown. Last I saw you, you were 3._

"Where have you been?" I asked. I adapted to the fact that Herobrine is my father really quick. "Why did you send me away instead of protecting me?"

Tears welled up in his eyes. _I can't._ He said. _I could've put you in the safe house, but brother cracked the seal on it. Plus, I have to keep the Nether in order. Even the slightest strange noise could throw the whole place in havoc._

I softened a little. "I was happy with my life, anyway," I sighed. "I married, too, and had a son. Not sure what I should call him, though. The others are telling me to name him Tyler,"

 _How about Mason?_ Herobrine suggested. _I was going to name you that, but that name is too normal. That's why I named you Skydoesminecraft._

"Wait a second," I held up my hand. "You are telling me that my YouTube name is actually my real name,"

 _Quite right._ Herobrine said cheerfully. _I actually found time to stalk your channel, you know._ He laughed. _You are good at capturing peoples' attention._

"Let me guess," I said. "Then you are going to tell me to round up all my subscribers and fight alongside you,"

 _That would be helpful._ Herobrine tilted his head, as if he's considering the option. _But most of your subscribers are kids. I'm not sure that would help much._

"Okay, first off, whose side are you on?" I asked. "Probably on the Wither's side?"

His eyes dimmed. _He wanted this world to be destroyed._ He said. _I want to preserve it. I still want my sons to see this world... and improve it. Why would I on the bad side?_

"Cause that's how the others said," I explained. "You are the villain in the community,"

 _That is on Earth, I bet?_ He smirked. _I trashed up Notch's favorite garden once. Must be the reason why he put me into the game as a villain._

"Actually, a player put it in," I corrected. "Then Notch had it on all their merch and drawings. Everyone that knows Minecraft knows you, too,"

Herobrine just shrugged. _I might be the villain on Earth, but I'm not one in this world._ He leaned close to me. _You can trust me, and I won't want to lie to my own son._

"I'll trust you… for now," I agreed. "But now that I'm here, what do I do? What should all of us do?"

 _Find something even stronger that our seal._ Herobrine said. _And reseal him again. All of you can banish him too, though I don't know how. Only Notch knows, but he spends all his time on Earth, enjoying._ He stomped his feet like a 5 years old kid.

"He could recreate this world, can't he?" I asked. "I mean, he created this world. If it's destroyed, he can always make a new one,"

 _You don't understand, Sky._ He turned to me. _The two worlds are linked. If this world is destroyed, the other one would disappear too. Everything related would be reduced to dust and ceases to exist._

"That was reassuring," I mumbled, kicking my legs. "So we have to defeat him or we die?"

 _Exactly._ Herobrine smiled. _Hardcore mode._

"But we'd never fight in our lives!" I yelled. "How are we gonna defeat this immortal guy?"

 _Mob._ Herobrine corrected. _All of you will get some training along the way to your destination; I'll make sure of that. And how you're gonna defeat the Wither is up to all of you._

"Great," I looked up and noticed that his figure is dissolving. "Wait, are you dying?"

 _No, son._ He said. _Just have to go. If you want to talk to me again, just sleep while hugging the orb you see earlier._ With that, he disappeared. I was surrounded in darkness once again.

 _Neonz POV_

I got to speak to my mum, which is actually an UR-Ghast. She told me that she is too busy and there's nowhere safe here for me and I have to get sent away. Duh. Why didn't the entire legacy of gods send us away when Kim is 3? That would be much easier.

Before she had to go or whatsoever, she gave me a ring and told me to put it in my mouth and sleep when I want to see her. According to her, it is made of steelwood. Pretty sure that I would swallow it and choke myself.

I woke up in a plain-looking sitting room. It has a fireplace and a lot of couches of different colors. The others on our team are either awake or still out, and all are taking one double-seated couch each. Aquarius found a thick book somewhere, and is reading it intently. She won't be going anywhere in a few hours.

"You're awake," A villager in white robes served me a cup of tea. "All of you fainted on my doorstep, so I figured that I take you in,"

"Oh," I felt weak, so that's what I answered. I managed to sit up and hold the cup, but that's it. I don't have any extra strength to say anything.

"What are you reading, Aquarius?" Rob asked from across the room. Somehow, he found a pillow to hug, and it looks extra comfy. Right after he asked, it took exactly 10 seconds for her to answer, and she even answers it with a 'hmph?'

Rob asked again, and she took a look at the cover. "It's called 'The Legends'. It's all about the legends in this world,"

"Suits your taste perfectly, I'd say," I finished the cup of tea. It replenished my strength.

"I'd prefer Percy Jackson," She answered, turning back to the book once again. "This would work as well,"

We tried talking to her again, but she answers no more. The priest allowed us to explore the tower, so I teamed up with Poofless and Rex. I'd never know about the ship name for those two until Aquarius told me a few weeks ago. When we walked around in the tower, the two goofed around, constantly pushing each other into the wall. The tower is old already, and I'm afraid that they would bring the whole building down anytime soon.

They calmed down anyway as we entered a room that looks a lot like a witch's hut. Bottles of potions lined the shelves, chests filled with materials, a magic circle with an altar and a book of spells on a lectern.

Poofless explored the room while Rex and I approached the lectern. The book is written in that enchanting table language, and as I watched, Rex opened the book and started reading it without any help.

"What the heck?" I gasped. "You are reading this without problem? This is like my sister's handwriting!"

"I don't know," He said, his eyes not leaving the book. "It's like Aquarius reading the Fantasian Alphabet off Geronimo Stilton's books, I guess. The difference is that I don't have to study the letters beforehand," He then took an empty pocket notebook out of his pocket and started writing down whatever he was reading, but in normal letters, thank goodness. It seems like some kind of spell.

"The priest might kill us for this, you know," I said just as something crashed in a corner. Preston just knocked down a corrosive potion, and its contents are eating its way through the flooring. Great. Now the priest will kill us for sure.

"What are you guys doing?" I stormed towards the two. "Can't you guys stay still or not stir up trouble?"

"I didn't!" Preston retorted. "I calmed down, and was reading these labels-" He gestured at the potions on the shelves. "-when Rob bumped into me! You should ask him too!"

"I was trying to reach that box," Rob pointed at a cherry-colored box sitting on the top shelf. "Then I lost my balance. That's it,"

I facepalmed. I was thinking up something to say when the priest ran into the room, almost tripping on the carpet.

"What happened?" He asked, looking around. Then he noticed us standing by a corroded floor. Immediately, he rushed to our side.

"Are you hurt?" He asked, checking our skin for any injuries. When we said that we are okay, he calmed down.

"Aren't you angry?" I asked. "We kind of messed up your place…"

"It's okay," He waved his hand. "I was going to throw away that vial anyway. I'm okay as long as you are not hurt,"

Rex closed the book he was reading and came over to us, slipping his notebook back into his pocket as he did so. "Are the others awake yet?" He asked the priest. "We really have to get going,"

"They are all up now," The priest confirmed. "I just contacted NickJr and heard your problems. I'll brief you on that,"


	4. Chapter 4

**I'd seen similar writings on other media, and this is probably the first time I wrote like that (Aquarius' POV) and is actually proud of it. If any of you think that I missed out anything, leave a review!**

 _Ssundee POV_

Basically, the priest wrote a letter stating that we weren't like before, and those who read the letter can trust us. Breaking someone's trust is easy, but mending it is hard. It would take us a couple of eternities or more for us to gain the world's trust back.

The priest also gave us a backpack filled with food, tools and torches. Since we are going to Fiore, we would need those items as there are hardly any places for us to stop at within a few thousand blocks. Furthermore, Fiore is very far from the village we are in. I'd say about the distance from San Francisco to Beijing, China without crossing the Pacific Ocean. It might take us a few weeks to get there, maybe months.

The guards we met earlier escorted us to the border of the dark oak forest. They told us that the nearest civilization is due east, and said that we can try there first to collect information and whatsoever. It would help understand this world better.

"I think we're a bit like Percy Jackson when he first found out that he is a demigod," Aquarius said. "Struggling to understand the world that he seemed to know but doesn't. It's confusing, actually," It's a miracle how she can fit so many things in her 15 year old brain.

We slept in the trees until daybreak, and then continued our journey. The guards also mentioned that all the cities used the same currency, and we could use that money to get better weapons. Basically, it's like factions: collecting resources sell them and get money for better items. Vikk suggested that we go mining as soon as we find a potential cave while Jason suggested dungeon diving for valuable loot. Again, we almost started fighting each other until Aquarius stopped us, saying that we can do both.

We didn't dare going deep into the deeper caves, so we picked a ravine. It is quite deep, but it doesn't have maze-like cave systems. We found rubies, amethysts and much more minerals from the ravine. Since most of us played modded Minecraft before, we ruled out whatever minerals that isn't valuable. That means chucking away a lot of copper ores. Aquarius saved some, saying that mechanics would want them. Whatever, girl. It's your choice.

We found a tower dungeon on top of a hill right after mining. It's the kind of dungeon with a mark aboveground while the real deal is all underground. I'd hit those kind of dungeons a number of times, but the buildings still take my breath away. I never knew how many levels there are, or how big the levels were.

We looted the top layers first, and then descended into the basement where the real deal lies. The priest gave us 2 stacks of torches each, and there are 24 of us. That means we have… 48 stacks of torches. Wow.

We split up into three groups, since there are three entrances, and went in. I don't usually get scared when I'm going into the dungeon, but I am today. But we might not be able to go farther without the money.

I sighed and went into the dark with my team.

 _Deadlox POV_

"I hadn't come in here for a long, long time," Jason said, looking around the corridor. He took his helmet off, and his eyes illuminated the space before him. "In the game, of course. If I remember correctly, there is a nether-themed level on the last part,"

"There is," Rex confirmed. "And I heard that it is the hardest one,"

"It might have blazes, then," Mitch went ahead and placed another torch. "We have to be careful about it,"

We promised to rendezvous at the entrance after we cleared our area. If one of the teams found the stairway down, we'll go their way. Then, we split up again. This method kind of shortens the time needed, and covers more area. We also decided to take whatever items that have some sort of value, and then we meet at the entrance and do the inspections.

~~TIME SKIP COZ WHY NOT~~

"This room looks awesome," Baki said. We came across a room that looks a lot like a small apartment. There is a chest in the middle and random stuffs scattered around. "If this is my home, I'd be hype,"

"This is pretty much how Preston's house looks like," Lachlan started looting the chests. "Except it's smaller and brighter than this place,"

"And it wasn't messy?" Neonz asked. Lachlan threw him a confused look. "Aquarius was watching his vlog, and I kind of watched it with her,"

"She said she wasn't a fan of him?" Lachlan pulled out a piece of chain armor. "This might be good,"

"Nah. She basically salvages whatever crap she could find. She likes vlogs the most,"

"She's a stalker, then?"

"She just wants to keep track of things. She actually cared for you guys,"

"She's a strange person," Vikk cut in, coming over with an enchantment table in his arms.

"She barely has her sanity on her," Neonz shrugged. "That's exactly what she said,"

We stopped the conversation right there as we looted the room of any valuables. I feel like I'm in factions again, raiding a base that wasn't protected.

After what seems like forever, we finished exploring our side of the dungeon. We retraced our steps back to the stairs where we wait. We found no stairway leading down, so we assumed that it is on the other part of the dungeon. As we waited, Ian and Lachlan argued over whether to keep the chain armor Lachlan got from the chests.

"It has good enchantments on it!" Lachlan yelled. "It could be used as a backup set!"

"But the protection level is low!" Ian retorted. "There's no goddamn use having good enchantments on it if it's bad armor!"

They continued on, and after a while I stopped listening. The problem is that they are so noisy that I couldn't hear myself think! I glanced at Neonz, who managed a helpless smiled at me and facepalmed.

I went through my loot. I have a few enchantment books, an assortment of weapons, and a lot of mob junk from killing them. I threw them in a corner, making sure no one steps into it. In this world, we don't pick up things automatically. We have this magnetic device on our backpacks that would suck any item up when turned on. It is useful, but annoying sometimes.

The other team joined us shortly after, and we exchanged information. The staircase wasn't on their side, either, but they somehow found diamond blocks. Maybe there's a treasury on their side.

We joked around and watch Lachlan and Ian arguing. It's even entertaining when Duncan tried telling them to stop. They ended up having a three way fight since Duncan said that they can smelt the armor in the smeltery for steel.

All of a sudden, a scream echoed down the corridor that the third and last group went. It sounds like someone is looking into the eyes of death. Lachlan scrambled up and grab for his pack. "It's Vikk," He said, eyes widening with horror. Another scream echoed through the dungeon, this time from someone I knew.

"It's Adam," I realized I was shaking. "Guys, we have to help them!"

 _Aquarius POV_

I can't move. It's like I'm under Medusa's spell, except I'm not dead and I'm not stone.

Vikk is lying in a corner, grimacing from the pain. The spear that the creature threw had gone clean through his body, and he is bleeding a lot. Up to the point where I would throw up.

It had got hold of Adam now, and has an evil grin on its face. It is savoring his fear, and enjoying it. Adam had somehow turned into his hybrid form, but that doesn't help at all.

I have the scythe in my hand, but I found no strength to swing it. My fear is holding it back, freezing my body in place.

I can hear footsteps down the corridor, but my lips won't move. I can't utter a sound. It's like watching a horror movie going live, and you can't do anything.

Why do I have to look into the creature's eyes? I could have just left it wandering at the second floor, but noo. I have to get a better look at him, and look into its eyes. Before we knew, it had bounded up the stairs and threw a spear into Vikk's stomach.

The monster picked up his spear and pointed it at Adam's stomach. He pushed the shaft into the flesh ever so slowly, listening to Adam's screams. This is so wrong. It's like reading those evil and twisted fanfictions online. Everything is wrong.

I breathed out heavily, releasing the stress building up in my chest. The freeze spell broke, and I charged towards the monster, swinging the scythe.

The monster knew my move, and swung his spear at me without pulling it out of Adam. It cut a huge gash in my stomach, and I bit my lip from crying out in pain. I sliced off one of its arm and it disintegrated, dropping Adam on the floor.

I went in for another swing as I saw Mitch pulling Adam away. Somehow, I knew the monster's weakness, like I met it on a daily basis. I sliced across its chest, exposing the heart. It swept me off balance, and I dropped the scythe.

I managed to roll out of the way and he stabbed his spear at the location I was in. It was lodged there, and as it struggles to pull it out, I picked up the scythe again and bring the blade down, driving the tip into its heart. It screeched as its body started smoking. I pulled the scythe out of its body and it crumbled. The only thing left of it was its spear and a couple of junk.

"Aquarius?" Someone came up behind me. The sound… It's so reassuring that it made me calmed down. I realized that my breathing is all messed up, and I'm losing conscious. One reason why I should exercise more.

I turned around and faced the person. I'd only managed a smile before falling into his hands, and the owner of them gasped.

"Vikk!" I remember someone yelling, followed by mass footsteps. Somebody touched the cut on my stomach, checking my wound and I blacked out.


	5. Chapter 5

**If you guys don't know, I'm still accepting OCs! If you guys have any more feel free to submit!**

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 **I can't even. Those sad Vikklan fanfictions are getting to my head. I must look miserable right now. Sad that it is actually reality, from the real world. :'(**

 _iBaki961 POV_

Kim and Zek cared for the wounded, meaning Aquarius, Vikk and Sky. Vikk's is the worst, since the spear punctured his belly. Luckily, it didn't hit any important organs, and the healing potions we got from dungeon looting helps in closing the wound up. He just has to rest for a couple of hours before he's good to go.

Adam told us about the entire incident while Vikk dozed off. Aquarius looked like she'd fainted from shock and, possibly, lack of oxygen. Rex said that she wasn't much of an athlete, and she always look like she would pass out after gym class.

"You said she watched you getting punctured before rescuing you?" Deadlox asked. All of us were shocked by the news, especially Rex and Neonz.

"No way," Rex defended Aquarius. "She's loyal to her friends, or whoever she called friends. She would never do that,"

"But she has this blank expression on her," Sky replied. "There's no telling what she's thinking. Besides, it's her fault that the monster attacked us,"

I looked at Aquarius, who is lying on Neonz's lap. Neonz is stroking her head lightly, like he wasn't used to doing that. Her face is beaded with sweat, and her face is scrunched up. Is she having a nightmare?

"I don't know why, but she waited until the tip of the spear went halfway in before she swings her scythe," Sky continued talking. "And she didn't go with the killing blow,"

Rex looked like he's about to explode with anger. For the times we'd been together, he is always the cheerful one like Rob, only pretended to be angry when Aquarius teased him. I guess he really is angry.

Before he could say anything in return, Aquarius shot up from her sleep, missing Neonz's nose by an inch. She gasped for breath, looked at us for a minute or two, and buried her face in her knees. It wasn't showing, but I swear she is crying.

"What happened?" Neonz patted her back gingerly. "It's okay now. Calm down,"

It took a bit for her to calm down eventually. "I dreamt about it. The monster… It looks so familiar. I just want to get a better look at it, and then it looked up and into my eyes. I tried backing away and warn the others, but it's too late. It had a spear. It threw it at Vikk, and he is bleeding. A lot. Sky could have gotten away, but he stumbled. The creature caught him, and drives the same spear into his body slowly. I can't move through the whole thing, starting from where Vikk is hurt. I'm so scared. I thought it was a peaceful mob. It was so scary, so bloody. It's all twisted. I want to move, but I feel like someone put a burden on me. I can't think either," She wanted to say more, but she cracked up again. Neonz continued his job on comforting her while Rex turned back to Deadlox and Sky.

"You hear that? Her story is exactly the same as yours, Sky. She did want to help you, but she's scared. I told you that she won't leave any of her friends to rot,"

Sky didn't reply, though he doesn't look happy about it. Deadlox accepted Rex's words, and wasn't mad at Aquarius anymore. Aquarius calmed down again, and we decided to move on, since Vikk had woke up.

 _Laowu POV_

I'd never seen any place like this before.

In truth, I'd never played modded Minecraft before. All I'd played is vanilla survival, and I stopped the series because not much people enjoyed the series. The rest of the team are pros at this, and I wonder if I could ever be like them?

I mean, look at them. They knew which item has value, and which doesn't. I found a golden mirror which would have cost a lot on Earth, as the others put it, but Jason just waved his hand and said that it is rubbish. I kept it though. It kind of reminds me of my sister's mirror that I broke this Chinese New Year when I made a visit home. If I could ever return there, I would give this to her.

We explored the place until we arrived at the last level of the dungeon. It is all made of nether bricks, which I knew because I'd been there before for Quartz. My friend and I found a nether fortress when we are looking for Quartz, and it is the first time I saw anything extraordinary since the creeper.

We peeked into the space. There are cage-like things on different nether brick altars, and they are spinning slowly, giving off sparks of flames. According to Kim, those are spawners, and if you're too close to them, they start spawning mobs at a regular basis until you move away or break it.

"Do we have spare pickaxes?" Mitch asked. "Mine broke when we were mining back at the ravine,"

"Mine is almost dead," Sky shrugged. "Probably can't get past the fifth spawner," There are about 10 spawners in the room, for your information.

"Can't we combine our pickaxes?" Hakime suggested. "Then the durability would increase, right?"

"I hope we could," Vikk said, still clutching his stomach. "But there are enchantments on the pickaxes; we don't wanna lose them. Plus, the spawners are quite far from each other. Unless some of us distract the spawned mobs and the others break the spawners, there is no way we could do it,"

"And some of them spawn blazes," Aquarius said. She seemed to have snapped out of the sad/depressed mood sometime ago. "We have to get in and out fast or we are gonna get burned,"

After a while of discussion **(which I think is boring and I'm sure that you guys would feel the same)** , we decided the distract team and the spawner breaking team. Since I still have much durability on my pickaxe, I went straight to spawner breaking. It sounds fun, to be honest.

On three, we charged, in. The spawners spawned in a bunch of skeletons, zombies, spiders and blazes just as fast. While the other team is distracting the mobs, we broke their spawners. It was easy until I laid eyes on one spawner with something colorful spinning in it. It was so breathtaking that I was stunned for a few seconds there. This gave one stray zombie a chance to attack me from behind. I was pushed onto the spawner.

"Isaac!" Aquarius happened to turn, and yelled. She came to me immediately and sliced the zombie's head in half, blood and brain juice splattering everywhere. I thought zombies don't have brains.

"What's this?" Aquarius eyed the spawner, which I realized that the colorful thing spinned faster than before, and more sparks are flying out. I hit my pickaxe on it, only to break the tool in half and barely making a dent in the spawner.

"This is not good," Aquarius grabbed my hand and pulled me backwards. "None of us know about this monster. We must leave, now!" She shouted the last part at the others just as the spawner exploded, throwing all of us back. The spinning thing floated in the air, then expanded slowly until it took the form of... A pink fluffy unicorn?!

"Aww, that was so cute!" Preston cooed, trying to get up. The girls did the same, but not Aquarius. She stared into the unicorn's eyes, her expression becoming scarier as every second passed.

I looked too, and saw what's wrong. In those unicorn fairytales (or whatever junk with unicorns in it), they usually have eyes that are passive or matches their body color, not a bloody red like this one. It looked at Preston, who is racing towards it for a hug, and its expression changed. It looked like the unicorn is grinning evilly.

"Preston, get down!" Aquarius yelled just as Neonz tackled the older boy. The unicorn's mouth opened at the same time and a dead-straight pink laser shot out of its mouth at where Preston's head had been. It hit the wall, leaving a crater of about 3 blocks across. That was some serious shot.

"You guys ever saw anything like this?" I yelled at the others, since I'm still a newbie to this world. The others shook their head, and started circling around the evil unicorn. Somewhere near the unicorn, Aquarius is singing 'Pink evil unicorns dancing on rainbows'.

I looked into the unicorn's eyes again. Its gaze is deadly, and so freaking scary.


	6. Chapter 6

**For your information, deadpoolthekid42, I made up the evil unicorn. It doesn't exist in any mod. (Well, maybe it does, but I'm not sure.)**

 **Mosspath636 don't whisper dat it might come true *shivers***

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 **Special time skip waiting boizzz~ xD**

 **Lachlan's TreasureWars is so confusing, and I can't bloody get a good faction to raid :( I can't even decide whether the runes and clue scrolls are good or not. SSundee's TimelessPVP is easier; coz the concept is much simpler. All I have to keep an eye on is the engrams, good potions, good armor with enchantments and that's it.**

 _LividCoffee POV_

We circled the beast – cute beast – while listening to Aquarius singing softly and the beasts' grunting and snorting. It looked at us one by one, its back constantly moving so none of us could ambush it. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Metro and Mass trying to prod the unicorn with their weapon – a spear and sword respectively. The unicorn seemed like it didn't feel a thing, and continued its actions.

"I'm done with this," Adam announced all of a sudden and stabbed he sword into the beasts' rump. It howled, and like what horses do when they are startled, it kicked its hind legs up, narrowly missing Adam's head. Before the beast could regain its balance, some of us who are brave or insane enough – meaning Aquarius, Mitch, Ian and Jerome - started slaughtering the unicorn while the others backed away. None of us wanted to get hit in the head, nor have it explode under the impact.

Soon, the pink hide of the unicorn was splattered in crimson **(I had a bad memory for this word)** , yet the unicorn doesn't seem to be bothered. We retreated into a corner where the beast can't get us, and started arguing.

"Who get the idea of coming in this dungeon?" Simon complained. "Look at us; we can't even get rid of that fucking unicorn!"

"That had never existed in Minecraft!" Jason threw up his hand. "Maybe in some other unpopular mods, but still! It is practically invincible!"

Aquarius took one last look at the beast (which had forgotten all about us and was nudging some of the mob drops left there), and started discussing in the language that Kim sometimes spoke with Rex and Neonz. I had nothing better to do, so I looked in my inventory bag.

"You mean there is no other way to get rid of it?" Jason asked Ian, which caught my attention. The latter nodded. "Melee attacks don't work, so we have to try ranged ones. But none of us have bows, right?"

We don't, although the skeletons did drop some. We thought we don't need them, so we left them somewhere random. It's troublesome to go up and fetch it.

"Seriously, guys," Zek yawned, and I realized it was nighttime. "Can't we call it a day? We can just leave the dungeon, since we'd gotten most of the loot. Leaving some wouldn't hurt,"

"That's where you are wrong," Vikk said. "We came this far, and we can't just chicken out. Besides, the best loot is always in the last room. Why do you think there is always a boss there?"

"I doubt bows would work much," Aquarius finished her discussion with her friends. "They're not enchanted, and assuming that the monster has a lot of health, it would take us a long time to kill it, assuming we have enough arrows and unbreakable bows,"

"I don't wanna stop right here!" Hakime threw his hands up. "I'd never turn down a dungeon before! I don't want this to be the first!"

I looked at the beast and saw it yawned. Maybe, just maybe, the unicorn is like the hydra: armored body, but has a sensitive mouth. "Guys," I signaled to the others. "Let's try attacking its mouth. It might be its weak spot,"

"But the unicorn hadn't opened its mouth since Preston tried to hug it," Rob answered. "Are you going to send someone as bait?"

"Better someone with weapon long enough to reach its mouth before it could launch anything," Ian said. We turned to look at Aquarius, with her scythe hanging lazily on her back. It took her a while to return our gazes. "Wut?" She asked.

"I think," I said. "We just have our bait ready,"

 _SimonHDS90 POV_

I gripped my sword tighter as we circled the beast once again. Covered in blood and dust, the unicorn wasn't cute anymore. It looked like one that has come back from death and is possessed by a devil. It snorted and tossed its head, following our pace like before.

Once in a while, we would hop forward and back to distract the monster. At first, it would open its mouth to ready a shot of laser. After a few tries, it stopped taking the bait. It is our strategy: making it believe that we are just toying with it. After a few more random tries, Aquarius lunged.

The unicorn saw her taking more than one step, like how we had done, and opened its mouth. Just before a shot charged up, Aquarius' scythe was lodged into its mouth up until the handle. The beast trashed, trying to get the blade out of its throat. Blood started flowing out, staining the floor around it and on Aquarius.

"This is gross," Rex said, covering his mouth. We backed away just in time to hide from a huge wave of blood. Aquarius gripped the scythe and yanked the blade out. You guys might think she pulled it out the way she put it in, right? No. She pulled it right out of the beast's neck, leaving a straight gash from the unicorn's jaw to the base of its neck. It's so gruesome that we have to cover Metro and Mass' eyes.

The beast disintegrated, leaving its fluffy but bloody skin, its horn and some meat. Aquarius turned to us and managed a smile and a victory gesture. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted. Again.

We checked ourselves for wounds. None of us were hurt except for Neonz and Preston, who has a few minor bruises. We set up shop in the boss room for the night, since we are all tired. Kim and Ashley did their best to clean Aquarius up, but she need new clothes. Now she lied in a corner, sleeping peacefully. We gathered up the loot from the room and called it a day. I never knew I was that tired until I rested my head on my backpack. I was out in an instant.

~~Time Skip with the Power of Meat Pies~~

Aquarius said that she's absolutely terrified of blood everywhere, and it's a wonder that she hadn't fainted before the beast was killed.

We made our way out of the dungeon, grabbing the bows we left behind. Now we knew that bows are useful, we aren't leaving it behind. We even took the arrows, which we threw on the floor earlier as junk. Since items don't despawn in this world, we burned them with flint and steel (which is one of the loot we got).

We cleaned the unicorn pelt in a stream once we exited the dungeon. All of us scrubbed the pelt clean while Aquarius went somewhere else to take a bath. Then, we continued our journey.


	7. Chapter 7

**deadpoolthekid42 –**

 **That would make the game lag… The item despawn thing is there for a reason.**

 **Creepermc5 –**

 **1\. They got the skin, the horn and its meat. I wonder what they did with it xD**

 **2\. A Twist in Life is the beginning of all this adventure, and The Trip into Unknown is the sequel. So I guess it won't be updating anymore…**

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~~Time Skip to a Few Days Later with the Power of Toothbrush~~

 _Bodil40 POV_

I thought the said city would look like the city from the 'Atlanteans' parody: all white and shiny. Instead it looks like those medieval ones: stone bricks and the occasional wooden roof. It wasn't attractive on first sight.

"That doesn't look reassuring," Ashley said. "Reminded me of our first dungeon. Can we go somewhere else?"

"We don't even know where the next town is," Neonz replied. "It's best we try this place first. Wandering out there is much more dangerous without knowing what's there. Plus, we need to restock on gear, and we could use a new set of armor,"

My helmet broke last night, and Ashley's boots are chipped, breaking any second. We need new ones, or repair them, at least. With the loot we got, we should be able to get enough materials to mend our armor. Unless the loot wasn't considered valuable like in the game.

We approached the gates where the guards eyed us strangely, especially at Jason. He is hiding his face under the helmet, so the guard is bound to be suspicious. But since we have kids with us, they let us pass without a word.

We were greeted by a colorful open-aired bazaar as soon as we stepped through the gates. There are all sorts of stalls, and an assortment of people selling all kinds of stuff. I tried not to gap at everything I saw, but it's hard. I'd never seen half of the items on sale.

"Sir?" Aquarius approached one of the stall owners. "We are adventurers, kind of new to this career. Do you know where we could sell our dungeon loot?"

The man adjusted his glasses and leaned forward. "You looked sort of familiar," He said. "Are you the daughter of some great adventurer?"

"Not that I know of," She answered quickly. "Can you answer my question now?"

"You notice the panels out front?" The man pointed to a device that looked a lot like an iPad. "It shows whatever the stall owner wants to buy. Those items on the stall is whatever they could sell,"

"Thanks," Aquarius flashed him a smile. "Good luck on your business!"

I tried browsing the 'selling' panel on another stall. The owner is buying a diamond spear with Sharp III and Knock I, which is something I have. He wants it for 350 Koins **(local currency; my bro suggested it)** , and I sold it to him. It seems worth it, and we could use the money.

We split up again to cover more market ground in a day. Two in each team, we can at least have someone to discuss if the price offered is worth the item. Some of the stall owners are buying almost OP pieces for a price so low, it's like selling a genuine diamond ring for only 5 dollars.

I got teamed up with Ashley, and we walked among the stalls looking for good deals. We got quite a few good ones, and when we went to our rendezvous point, we have almost five thousand Koins in total. Looting and selling feels awesome.

 _BajanCanadian POV_

In total, we made 60k out of all the loot we got, and Ian managed to find a cheap blacksmith. We dropped off our armor and weapons at his place, who promised them to be ready in three days' time. Aquarius could have dropped off her scythe as well, but she insisted on keeping it that way – not wiping the unicorn blood off the blade. She might have a strange habit of collecting those kinds of stuff.

Oh, by the way, we hadn't sold our unicorn pelt. One of the citizens said they have an auction every week, and one happens to land on tomorrow. We decided to try our luck there, or the pelt would have to gather dust in one of our packs. Maybe Aquarius', coz she looked like the ultimate pack rat.

We rented ourselves a big house as soon as we found an agent. It is like how the others and I had done when we visited Ireland for St Patrick's Day. Deadlox and a few others just passed out as soon as they found a bed; the adventure for the past few days doesn't suit any of us since Youtubers doesn't have to exercise, technically.

"This is exhausting," Jerome took an entire couch in the living room. "I'd prefer making videos than slaying monsters all day,"

"What about when you're on a video grind?" Hakime asked from across the room. "I heard that it is frustrating too. And tiring,"

"I know," Jerome replied. "But that's when we have to go somewhere else. This feels like video grinding all day without sleep,"

"It's stamina problem," Neonz said. "We just have to get used to it,"

"I can never get use to this," Jerome yawned. "Don't bother me. I wanna sleep,"

"No one is going to, biggums," I patted his head. He fell asleep almost immediately, and I collapsed on another couch. I want to sleep, but somehow the call never came.

"We might be stuck here for a while," Hakime said. "So Jerome has to get use to this,"

"I know," I looked at Jerome. When he's sleeping, he doesn't have the goofy grin on him. "I could get use to this, but I really can't leave YouTube. It's my career, anyway,"

"Try putting on vlogs once in a while," Hakime suggested. "Let them know you didn't abandon them. Or at least tell them that you're not dead,"

"I'll try," I said. "But things here is different from Earth. Will they even get use to this?"

"Either they think it's true or they take it as special videos," Hakime shrugged. "Either way, you have contents on there. Would still work, right?"

"Maybe," I realize my eyelids are getting heavy. "I wonder how much the unicorn pelt would sell for?"

"Almost a million, maybe?" Hakime answered. "If it's rarer it would go beyond that,"

~~Time Skip to the next day with the power of Garena+~~

 _SSundee POV_

Everyone looked nervous. Aquarius tugged at the straps of the knapsack that held the unicorn pelt. It's our first hunting loot, and we do not know if it is valuable enough to go on the auction. Everyone from all over the world would be there to buy things, and apparently they are all rich. Maybe even richer than the richest person on Earth.

I took the pack from Aquarius and went to the registration counter with Isaac. After registering and leaving the pack with the auction house, we went for breakfast. The auction doesn't start till an hour later.

"Sky," Vikk spoke halfway through the breakfast. "I saw your eyes lighting up when you're captured by that unknown creature. What happened?"

"I did?" Adam widened his eyes. "I didn't even notice, though,"

"Your eyes did light up," Aquarius confirmed. "Like how it had been when we're in the real world – I mean on Earth. Did that incident trigger something?"

"Now that you said it, I think something did happen," Adam tilted his head. "When that creature's leaning close to me, I feel something in the back of my head relaxed, like letting go of something heavy after a while,"

"Apparently that triggers our other form," Rex concluded. "My guess is that it triggers when we're, like, on the verge of death-"

"He is on the verge of death," Zek interrupted.

"-yeah. And with enough practice, we can toggle between this form and another at will,"

"Not here, though, if anybody wants to try it out," Vikk eyed the crowd around us. "I'm pretty sure we had a bad reputation, and people here would start slaying us as soon as we tried it,"

"Thanks for that warning," Zek muttered and glanced at his watch. "If we want to get to the auction in time, we must hurry,"


	8. Chapter 8

**Guest(The one who includes the OC called USconstitution76)- Err… I don't understand the personality and the appearance part… you mind rephrasing that? :P**

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 **Would anyone mind if I started including lyrics of songs in my story? I loved music, and I wanted to share it with everyone. Tell me if you like the change. If not, I would stop including it. It's all up to you guys. :)**

 **Btw the song is called 'Masayume Chasing' by BoA. It is also the opening song for Fairy Tail.**

 _TBNRfrags POV_

Only Ian, Bodil40, Metro and I want to check out the auction.

The others either wanted to explore the city, go window shopping, or in Aquarius' case, finding a bookstore. She said she hadn't been near books for a long time, and it's killing her. The problem is she had just been near one just a week ago. She must have an unhealthy obsession with books.

~~Time Skip with the Power of Meat Poles~~

"So, how much we got from the unicorn pelt?" Mitch asked.

"Pretty good," I shrugged. "Some of the bidders gasped at it, and then everybody started fighting for it right up to 999k. Not sure why,"

"Apparently, it's an animal which rarely spawns," Rex leafed through a book which looked like it is going to crumble. Beside him sat more books, like he and Aquarius had raided a bookshop. "And hard to kill. Seems like warriors and adventurers alike had tried their hands at killing one, but few had succeeded. Having its pelts in one's house is like telling the others that they are capable of killing one,"

"Like a symbol of power, huh?" Lachlan eyed Aquarius' bloodstained scythe, lying in a corner. "We should have kept it and drape it over Aquarius. She is capable of killing one,"

"One, I'm not dead," Aquarius answered without looking up from her book of miscellaneous items. "I don't need a burial shroud. Two, my mind was in haywire mode, so I wasn't thinking straight when I did that. Don't think of making me do that ever again,"

"Sure thing," Lachlan shrugged as someone – possibly Jason – yelled from upstairs. "There's a piano here!"

Everyone scrambled out of their seats and rushed upstairs in a split second. Me too, but not because I had never seen a piano. Vikk is good at it, and we had decided back at the recent St Patrick's Day meetup that we would make him play the piano again if we ever see one.

Jason is seated at the piano, flexing his fingers. "I hadn't played this in a while," He admitted. "And I'm wearing gloves. It would be harder for me to play the piano,"

Jason tried his hands at a lively melody which sounds like one of the Texas country songs. When the music ended, we clapped. Jason played the song without a flaw. It brings back some of my childhood memories too.

"Next up, Vikram Barn," Jerome shoved Vikk forward as the whole pack clapped. Jason stood up from the piano and Vikk took his place. He traced his fingers along the piano keys before turning to us. "What do you guys wanna hear?" He asked.

"Just play us a song," Mitch waved his hand. "As long as you like it, it's okay,"

Vikk positioned his hands on the keys and started playing. It wasn't something I know, but it sounds like a song for parts where characters in a movie reunited. It reminds me of my family. How are they right now?

The song ended, and it earned a round of applause louder than the one he earned at the inn in Dublin. Vikk stood up and bowed before leaving, even though we asked him to play us another song. Jason closed the piano lid, and all of us filed downstairs, chatting about other things. Well, I thought it's all of us until I heard the piano sounding again.

A couple of us crept upstairs and peeked through the railings. Aquarius sat at the piano, her slim fingers dancing across the keys. Her friends (or the kids, as I would call them) stood beside her, listening. She seemed distracted, as she kept on switching music. One minute it's a cheerful song, the next it's a sad one. She played most of the songs with only one hand, and I recognize a few of them. For instance, there is Captain Sparklez's 'Revenge', Laura Shigihara's 'Cube Land', and some others.

After all that, she came to a song that gave me the impression of people standing in ruins, but they still struggled to survive. Aquarius played the song, and under Rex's request (which is given in a language that sounds like Chinese), sang along to the tune.

 _Yume wo otte mayoikonda kokoro no mori no oku (As I chase my dream, I got lost deep in the forest of my heart.)_  
 _Kagami yori sunda izumi utsuru yuganda smile (Clearer than a mirror,the spring reflected a warped smile.)_

 _Koboreta namida wa (don't cry) kin demo gin demo nakute (These tears that I have shed (Don't Cry), were neither gold nor silver.)_  
 _Arifureta namida (fall from my eyes) megami mo kizukanai (Those commonly seen tears (fall from My Eyes), but the goddess won't even notice.)_

 _Masayume chasing chasing (Chasing, chasing the real dream) _  
_Koero motto jibun shijou saikou no (Surpassing the greatest I've ever been before.)_  
 _Ima wo chasing chasing sou egaita (Chasing, Chasing this moment)_  
 _Jibun ni natte moyase mune no hi wo (I imagined that's who I'll become, burn the flame in your heart!)_

 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _na na na na na hey! hey!_  
 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _Kakenukero hero (Run past through, hero!)_

 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _na na na na na hey! hey!_  
 _na na na (hey!) na na na oh!_  
 _Moyase mune no hi wo (My life... yeah) (Burn the flame in your heart! (My Life... Yeah))_

 _Me wo tojite mimi sumase ba kasuka ni yobu koe (When I close your eyes, and cleared up my ears, I can hear a faint voice. )_  
 _Dare mo inai hazu no mori de miageta sora no ao (At a forest where there should be nobody around, I look up towards the blue sky.)_

 _Kokoe wa modoranai (good bye) kodoku to iu na no moudoku no (I shall never return (Good Bye) to the poison named loneliness.)_  
 _Amaku kaoru hana (fill up the sky) sakihokoru sekai ni (The sweetly scented flowers (Fill up the sky) shall bloom in this world.)_

 _Sayonara changing changing (Good bye, I'm Changing Changing)_  
 _Koero motto jibun shijou saikou no (Surpassing the best that I've ever been before.)_  
 _Egao changing changing sou negai wa (Smiles are Changing Changing)_  
 _Kanau wa kitto terase mune no hi wo (Wishes will be granted, light the flame in your heart!)_

 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _na na na na na hey! hey!_  
 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _Kakenukero hero (Run past through, hero!)_

 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _na na na na na hey! hey!_  
 _na na na (hey!) na na na oh!_  
 _Terase mune no hi wo (Light the flame in your heart!)_

 _*Rap*_

 _Hey! mou mechakucha haado de hontou no jibun ga daredaka_  
 _Wake up shite make up Eien mainchi kurikaeshite fade out_  
 _Konna akumu kara (la) No way baby(no way baby)_  
 _(na na na na na) Nukedasu ni wa (go gotta go now) Me wo samasu shika nai_

 _(Hey! It's unbelievably hard, and I don't know who I really am_  
 _Wake up and make up, repeating the pattern everyday its Fading Out (Ah...)_  
 _From this nightmare (La...) No Way Baby (No Way Baby)_  
 _(na na na na na) The only way to get out (Go Gotta Go Now) is to wake up from it.)_

 _Mabushii asahi abite me wo korasu saki ni (Bathing in the dazzling morning sun, ahead of what I'm staring at,)_  
 _Ano hi ni mita mirai ga te wo hirogeteru oh (Is the future that I saw that day, with its arms open.)_  
 _Whoa Whoa_

 _Masayume chasing chasing (Chasing, Chasing the real dream) _  
_Koero motto jibun shijou saikou no (Surpassing the greatest I've ever been before.)_  
 _Toki wo chasing chasing sou egaita (Chasing Chasing the time) _  
_Jibun ni natte moyase mune no hi wo (I imagined that's who I'll become, burn the flame in your heart!)_

 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _na na na na na hey! hey!_  
 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _Kakenukero hero (Run past through, hero!)_

 _na na na na na na na oh!_  
 _na na na na na hey! hey!_  
 _na na na (hey!) na na na oh!_  
 _Moyase mune no hi wo (Burn the flame in your heart!)_

 **(Hey, that was long :P)**

Somebody clapped behind me, startling me as well as the performer upstairs. Aquarius shut the piano and leaned over the railing with a bored expression on her face, though her eyes told otherwise. She didn't expect this.

"You have a beautiful voice," I blurted out. Aquarius flinched a little, but managed to keep her expression. "Thanks," She turned to the crowd of people crammed up behind me. "I'm pretty sure it's uncomfortable standing there. You can go now, show's over," And she went off into her room.

"What's her problem, mate?" Lachlan said as we descended the staircase. "Not even a 'thanks'. What is she thinking?"

"It's okay," I assured him. "She's probably not used to people's compliments. Give her some space,"


	9. Chapter 9

**Mosspath636 I've been on another server people there sell stuff for 999 mil if I'm not mistaken xD My ingame name is Igunius, and I usually hang out at TitanMC OP1 (if you see me on OP2 &3 that's my bro and sis)**

* * *

 **I failed my Add Math and History, like seriously, man. I'm doing badly this semester. I need a change :(**

 _MetroMass POV_

All six of us lied down on the flat roof in a star shape. The stars are beautiful. Being a city boy, I'd never seen a full night sky of stars. Aquarius and Rex raced each other at pointing out constellations, arguing which is which in the process.

"Cut it out, man," Hakime slapped Rex on the forehead, which is what he could do since Rex is just opposite him. "I just want to watch the stars,"

"Hey, it's Orion," Aquarius pointed at a spot. "If I'm not mistaken, Orion was a giant created to kill Artemis and Apollo, but he doesn't want to follow his destiny. At first, he joined some king's hunting party, but then was blinded by the king for having an affair or whatsoever with the princess. Then-"

"Hell, no, stop it!" Neonz yelled. "I am here to enjoy the night, not the story behind every constellation!"

"If I can find every constellation, you'll get the package," Aquarius said. "But I can't find them, so your ears are safe,"

"Good," Neonz said sarcastically. None of us said anything, since none of us know what to reply. We stared at the stars, until Metro broke the silence.

"Guys," He asked. "If we can choose between this world and Earth, which one would you choose?"

"I like Earth better," Neonz answered. "I can't even play League of Legends here. It's killing all day,"

"But you kill in LOL too," Aquarius pointed out. "Except you're experiencing it for real here,"

"I like this place better," Rex said. "I can never study well on Earth. It's killing me every day,"

"Me too," Hakime replied. "Who likes studying?"

"At least we don't have to fight to stay alive on Earth," I yawned. "We have our parents doing it for us,"

Aquarius made no comments. I looked over and saw her eyes unfocused. After a while, she spoke.

"There are Pros and Cons in two of these worlds," She explained. "On Earth, we have to work hard, but at least we don't have to use our physical strength much. Here, we have to fight for our lives, but our mind doesn't get crowded by 'useless' knowledge. If you ask me, I… I don't know what to choose,"

"Can you tell the story of Orion again?" Metro asked after a moment of silence. "You stopped at where he was blinded by the king. What's next?"

Neonz didn't complain about the idea, so Aquarius continued on. "The king kicked Orion out, of course. He then met Hephaestus, who made him better mechanical eyes,"

"Mechanical eyes?" I sat up. "That's so cool, man!"

"It is," Aquarius smiled. "And it's better than Orion's old organic ones. Later, Orion joined Artemis' hunting party, becoming the first and only male to join her all-female party. Apollo was afraid that Orion's presence would make Artemis throw away her vow of being a maiden forever, so he killed Orion, I think, or something like that. Artemis was so sad about her friend's death, so she made him a constellation,"

"Wow," Hakime said. "You're good at storytelling, Aquarius. You never do that in our Skype calls,"

"Maybe because I know that I annoy people easily," Aquarius got up and patted off the dusts on her jacket. "Let's go back in. It's probably late already,"

 _AshleyMarie POV_

"Come look at this map, guys," Zek unfolded an old map on the coffee table. "It shows all the cities in this world. Which one are we in?"

"Pluto City," Ian answered. "It's written on the auction house,"

"The last one we're in is called Loki Village," Jason said. "It was written on the church,"

"It has different icons for all the cities," Mitch leaned in. "Oh wait. There are actually 5 different icons. Why did they do that, though?"

I looked up to see the kids coming through the door. "What are you guys looking at?"

"An old map we found in the basement," Zek tapped the map. "But it doesn't label the names of each city- Wait, what the heck?"

Zek had tapped his fingers on one of the icons. A blue holographic bar appeared, hovering above the icon. The words inside the bar are written in enchantment table letters, and we stared at the letters in confusion.

"'Apollo Town'," Rex translated. "It's named after the Norse love goddess?"

"Seems like it," Preston said. "This city is called 'Pluto City', and the last one we're in is called 'Loki Village',"

"Maybe the guys that named the cities are obsessed with myths, like Aquarius," Neonz suggested, stealing a glance at Aquarius.

"There's no harm in that, right?" Aquarius replied. "And it wasn't your business that I like those stories,"

"Quit it, you two," Hakime said. "That's not the point, so stop it,"

"Hey, Rex," Zek passed the map to Rex with the holographic bar still glowing. "Since you know these letters by heart, why don't you hold this map? It would be more useful for you than for us,"

"Wasn't this found in the house?" Rex took the map from Zek. "Won't this be stealing?"

"I don't think so," Zek shrugged. "This parchment was covered in dust when I found it. No one had touched it for a very long time. It would be more useful to us than sitting around in a dusty room,"

"Okay…" Rex tapped each icon. After a while, I noticed a pattern. There are 5 different colored icons, and the holograms are adjacent to the color of the icons. Lime green for villages, red for towns, blue for cities, pink for kingdoms and purple for empires.

"I guess the title of these places go by the area of their perimeter," Rex said after a while. "The smallest is village, followed by town and city. What about kingdom and empire, though?"

"Empire is the largest, and the second largest is kingdom," Aquarius suggested from behind a book of exotic potions. I can't believe that she would read those kinds of books, but come to think of it, she liked mythology, so a bit of magic-related things won't bother her.

"Let's assume it's like that for now," Rex tapped on one of the icons. "We're here in Pluto City. The nearest civilization to us is due south, which is Bellona Kingdom,"

"Bellona is a Roman goddess of war," Aquarius said, eyes not leaving the book. "It's said that she could share her strength to her allies,"

"Dude, enough with that," Neonz looked up from his laptop which, strangely, was with him when he was kidnapped. "We are not in mythology class, so shut up,"

"Stop it," I sighed. "We'll head south tomorrow after collecting our armor, right?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Like I'd written before, I still accept OCs! And if you have any extra ideas feel free to tell me! I'm starting to run out of them so… :P BTW the first OC is in this chapter! The guy who submitted this didn't give description on the clothes so I went freestyle on that part. More OCs not far behind!**

 _Laowu POV_

We bought ourselves some extra gear for the trip before setting off. Our next stop is Kingdom Bellona, which, according to information from Rex and Aquarius' snooping around the city, is actually a military base. The armory sometimes sells the extra armor and weapons, so there is a shot that we could get better gear for the trip.

Aquarius stored the scythe that was used to kill the evil unicorn in her backpack, saying that she would keep it that way. An earlier examination by the blacksmiths proved that the scythe is made of obsidian, so the blade is; naturally, sharp enough to penetrate the hide of the unicorn.

"Okay," Rex pulled out the old map after we are some distance away from the gates. "So, we just have to go straight south to get to the Kingdom. Jason, if you could put the helmet on all the time, we would not get into any trouble,"

"I should have no problem with that," Jason shrugged. "Unless the guards make me take off my helmet. It's a military base, anyway,"

"If it's a military base, then we should find good materials to trade with them," Ian said. "The militaries usually get the best items for their stock,"

"You mean things like Big Bertha?" Lachlan asked. "That thing is pretty OP,"

"Yes," Ian nodded. "But only if we can find one,"

~~Time Skip with the Power of Add Maths~~

"This looks good," Jason nodded at an abandoned shack not far from the forests. There are holes in the building, but at least it is enough for all 24 of us to stay in there for the night.

The sun is setting, so we patched up the holes quickly. We used various blocks, since there is no time to make the shack look like before. While we did that, Preston and Rob started up a fire and cooked dinner in the shack.

"There's a basement here," Metro said, pointing to a trapdoor camouflaged with the flooring while we're having dinner. He fling opened the trapdoor and peered inside.

"Let's go see what's down there," I stood up, brushing bread crumbs off his hands. "Maybe there are treasures,"

"I wanna come too," Jason said, taking his helmet and fake jetpack off. I'd almost forgotten that he can't switch forms like us. His eyes lighted up the room a little, and the bones glowing on him seems creepy in the firelight.

We climbed down the ladders and found hundreds upon thousands of crates littered around, stretching into the darkness. Most of them are smashed, but the rest are still intact. I picked up a crowbar sitting in a corner to pry open the crates and fending away random rats once in a while.

"Not much," Jason said after a while of opening crates. "Just random ingots and some mechanical parts. I say we go back upstairs,"

"Maybe all the good stuffs are at the back end of the basement," Metro suggested hopefully. "Not all the crates are opened, so there is still a chance,"

As we go, I realize how big the basement is. It could have been 9 times the size of the shack above. As we go, the loot turned from random ingots and mechanical parts to long-ranged torch-placing staffs and things that Jason doesn't recognize. Metro took them anyway, saying that the others might be able to identify them. Come to think of it, everyone in the team has played at least one modded game.

Just as I was about to pry open another crate, a crossbow bolt shot out of the darkness beyond Jason's glow. Mental note to self: even somewhere that looked safe could have danger lurking around. It was aiming for Jason, but he dodged it. Before we could react, a boy of about 13 jumped out of the darkness onto an intact crate.

His skin is slightly tanned, and has dark hair that almost covers his eyes. His electric blue eyes seemed to pierce through us. He wore all black, and his T-shirt read 'You don't CB!' which I knew the meaning very well. He heaved a small crossbow in his hands, yelled "Die, skeleton!" and fired again.

Jason acted fast. He picked up a board from one of the smashed crates and blocked the bolt. At the same time, Metro and I tackled him. Metro wrenched the crossbow out of his hands while I pinned him down.

"Let me go!" The kid yelled, trashing about. "I hate skeletons! I wanna kill it!"

"Can someone calm this kid down?" Jason backed away, his tail sweeping nervously and smashed one of the crates by accident. "Opps,"

"Hey, kid!" I had the urge to slap the boy. "That is not a skeleton! Just calm the freak down!"

"Uhm, Isaac?" Metro said. "I think he's actually one-third skeleton,"

The kid calmed down and squinted at Jason. "A hybrid," He said, turning to me and Metro. "What are you two doing with one around? Shouldn't you just kill him already?"

"He's our friend," I answered without thinking. "Friends don't go around killing each other,"

"Then you're a traitor," He looked at me, and his gaze sent a chill down my spine. I loosened my grip momentarily, and he snatched a dagger from his belt. He tried to stab me, and I barely dodged the attack. The blade grazed my cheek a little, enough to draw blood. I stumbled backwards, shocked. This kid is fast.

"We're not," Metro said. "We just came back here, and everybody tried to kill us like we are criminals,"

"We?" The kid asked. "You mean… All of you are hybrids?"

I shot Metro a glare, who stuck his tongue out a little. The kid backed up into a bunch of crates, shivering like we are going to kill him anytime soon. Come to think of it, we had such bad reputation that the parents probably told their kids that we would kill them on first sight.

"Metro," I said the first thing that came into my mind. "Give him back his crossbow,"

Metro looked surprised. "He would attack us!"

"But not giving back his weapon means we're keeping him hostage in a different way," I explained. "If we want to proof that we aren't like before, we have to do it,"

Metro stared at me for a second or two, then handed the kid his crossbow gingerly. He took it and put it in a loop on his belt, meaning he wasn't going to attack us. "What do you mean 'aren't like before'?" He asked.

I crouched before him. "Do you know that hybrids can be reborned?" He nodded.

"My dad said that hybrids would be reborned instantly when they died, and only one of them would have memories of their past life,"

"Exactly," I said. "None of us here have memories of our past life, so you can be assured that we won't do anything like what we'd did before,"

"If none of you here has that memory," The kid looked at me, Jason, and then Metro. "Then the 22 others have it?"

"Hey, kid," Jason spread his hands. "There are 24 of us in total, not 25,"

He stared at Jason like he's crazy. "But my dad said that there were 25 hybrids,"

"Let's just drop that subject, shall we?" I had a feeling that this wasn't going anywhere. "Where is your home? We can take you there,"

"Bellona Kingdom," He answered. "Oh, I hadn't introduced myself, had I? I'm CreeperMC,"

"I'm Isaac, and this is Jason," I gestured at the spaceman. "The kid right there is Metro. I suppose you would want to meet the others. They're upstairs,"

"Sure. Why not?"


	11. Chapter 11

**(The person who submitted the OC DoveFire) about the personality part… Since the OC might say hurtful words I might have someone to watch out. Aquarius might start hitting her and they'll start fighting. (Though maybe DoveFire would win xD)**

 _MinecraftUniverse POV_

Aquarius had never shared gear with others with the reason of wanting to be a collector, but when she saw CreeperMC5, she gave him a pink slime crossbow completed with manyullyn crossbow bolts. He was overjoyed.

"Only use it in situations where your old crossbow can't do much," She advised. "Take it as your ultimate weapon for life-and-dead situations,"

Before we slept, Rex checked the map one last time to make sure that we would be going the right way the next day. CreeperMC5 looked over Rex's shoulder and gasped.

"That's a relic," He said, looking at us. "Where did you guys get this?"

"This thing was gathering dust, so we took it with us," Zek explained. "What's the matter?"

"No wonder you guys don't know the true usage of this item," CreeperMC5 shook his head. "This item can also be used to track a person. Just put a drop of that person's blood on it, and it would display the person's marker on it. When the person died, the marker will disappear from the map,"

To demonstrate, CreeperMC5 cut his finger with a dagger and a drop of blood hit the parchment. The paper glowed lime green, and a dot of the same color appeared on the map. It was situated somewhere between Pluto City and Bellona Kingdom. We're over halfway towards our destination.

"That's cool," Preston clapped his hands. "I suppose we should all put our blood on this now,"

"Heloooo?" Aquarius waved her hand in front of Preston as if she's trying to wake him. "Do you have any idea how much it would hurt to cut your finger? I'd recommend doing it when we're wounded already or something like that,"

"You tried it before?" Preston asked. "If you didn't then shut up,"

"Of course I did!" Aquarius answered. "My mind wasn't working right at that time, and I kind of want to test the sharpness of the knife coz it's made of plastic!"

"Calm down, you two," Rob stepped between them. "Preston, you're older than her by 5 years. And you acted like you're only 16,"

"Let's just drop it," Aquarius rolled her eyes. "This isn't going anywhere,"

"Deal," Preston agreed. "Now, let's get some sleep. Bellona Kingdom wasn't far anymore,"

~~Time Skip with the power of Pianos~~

"This is it," CreeperMC5 gestured at a fort made of Nether Quartz and bits of Nether Brick. The Quartz glimmered in the sunlight, and it seems to create a rainbow when seen from a certain angle. It looked so cheerful that no one would believe that it is at it is actually a military base.

CreeperMC5 guided us through the gates, making up a lie to the guards that I has sensitive skin and has to wear the spacesuit to protect myself. Technically, it's half a lie. I wear the suit to protect myself from those hybrid hunters, not because I have sensitive skin. You guys know about that, right?

We sold the loot we got from the journey between Pluto City and Bellona Kingdom, even the ones we got from the abandoned shack. Miners actually wanted the torch-placing staff badly, since carrying torches on them is troublesome, and they can only place a torch at arm length. Those staffs places torches further, so miners could see danger before it strikes.

When all is done, it's too late to continue on our journey. CreeperMC5 asked us to stay at his house, which is enough for all of us to stay in there. His 18 year old brother, ThomasYi67, is a professional blacksmith that specialized at making spears and battleaxes. He also delivers weapons to the Kingdom armory and the other cities. Unlike (the old) CreeperMC5, he believes that the hybrids aren't bad.

 _ZexyZek POV_

"Attention all citizens!" I stuck my head through the window, wondering who's the jerk hollering early in the morning. It came from the town center, and since CreeperMC5's house is just a few buildings away, I can see what's happening there.

A guy in fancy robs is reading from a scroll, and all around him gathered a small crowd. People living near the center looked out of their windows, like me.

"Attention! The council had just received a letter from Apollo Town. The hybrids had reappeared after all these years. The town would be paying those who captured even one of them alive for ten thousand Koins, and fifty thousand for those who bring their head. No citizen are allowed to help the hybrids, and if discovered, they would be executed on the spot,"

The people cheered as I ducked back in. The others had come out of their rooms already, and they stood there with their mouth gaping.

"This is bad news," Sky said. "We have people wanting to kill us while we did nothing,"

"Actually, we did something in our past life, so it counts," Aquarius recovered from the shock, though she's still trembling. "Get ready now. We are leaving in five minutes,"

Everyone was starting to pack when CreeperMC5 burst into the room. "Guys," He gasped. "The citizens are hunting for you guys. You've got a bounty on your head,"

"We know," Mitch stuffed a money bag into his backpack. "That guy's voice is so loud I can hear it from across the street,"

"There's more," He panted. "They've placed more guards at the gates so you guys can't come in or leave,"

Mitch straightened up. "That's indeed bad news,"

"But we've got a plan," CreeperMC5 held up his hand. "My brother is going to send a wagon of weapons Pluto City. I know my brother wasn't going your way, but at least he can get you guys out of this place. Then you're on your own,"

It wasn't a great idea. Then again, we don't have much choice. If Notch had at least taught us how to use our powers, we can get out of this mess in a better way. ThomasYi67's wagon is in the garage, and we all climbed in and made ourselves as comfortable as possible. ThomasYi67 and CreeperMC5 loaded the weapons into the wagon, doing their best to conceal us. Some of the weapons are place face-down, and one of the spears is only a few inches from my nose. Lastly, they spread a piece of canvas onto the wagon and tied it down.

A while later, the wagon started moving. I studied the blade of the spear and listened to the wagon wheels creaking on the sidewalk. I'd been reading a novel back at home about a Jewish girl back in the World War II days. This must be her feeling right now, not knowing when would someone found them out and execute them.

The wagon stopped abruptly. Someone yelled at the wagon driver, but my heart is thumping too loudly to hear the words. The canvas was pulled open, and a hand reached into the wagon and felt around. It was dangerously close to Aquarius, and as I watched, she pulled out her stone dagger and held it close to the hand.

The hand grazed the blade, and the owner retracted it. He yelled something at ThomasYi67, who replied that he'd probably grazed one of the blades, since quite a number of them are placed upside down. The canvas covered the wagon again, and the wagon wheels creaked as it drove onto the gravel path and later, onto something soft.

Another two hours passed before the wagon stopped and the canvas pulled off the wagon. "Guys, it's safe now," CreeperMC5 said, removing weapons from the wagon and helping us out. "That guard at the gates is so scary, brother. I thought he would find out for sure,"

"Well, he didn't," ThomasYi67 shrugged. "I actually let Fate decide it all back there, and apparently she did,"

"How so?" Aquarius brushed her jeans.

"Apparently Fate made that guy touch one of my weapons, or he would be feeling around forever,"

"Aquarius did that!" I laughed. "She pulled out her dagger and let the guy cut his hand on purpose!"

"Dude," Kim climbed out of the wagon. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? You could have got us all killed!"

"But I didn't," Aquarius smiled. "Apparently having an uncontrollable mind helps,"

"Whatever you say," Kim rolled her eyes as the last of the team climbed out. We replaced the weapons and bid our goodbyes.

"We'll let you know when we reach Fiore," Aquarius promised. "Then you guys can come if you want. This Kingdom seemed plenty aggressive to me,"

"We'll go," ThomasYi67 nodded. "But we'll put up with these people for the time being,"

"Bye, guys," CreeperMC5 waved as they rode away. "And stay safe!"

 **Guys. I made ThomasYi67 up. He wasn't in the list of OCs submitted, but I figured that there's a need to put him there so...**


	12. Chapter 12

**Mosspath363 – Welp at least I know that your OC is on the hybrids' side :) (or is it?)**

 **DoveFire – from your OC's personality description I thought she really likes fighting… Maybe she's only like that in battles?**

 **To everyone that had submitted an OC: I swear on my three souls and on the Styx that your OCs would be back and be there at the final battle :)**

 _Vikkstar123 POV_

"This looks old," Preston poked his head through the curtain of vines. A few blocks underground is a blockade made of corroded wood. Warnings were scrawled onto the planks with charcoal, but I recognize none of them.

We continued our journey after deciding the direction we should be going. We took a long detour around Bellona Kingdom so the mobs of anti-hybrids people won't spot us. On the trip, Neonz talked about an abandoned mineshaft that we should probably check it out. Since it is along our planned way, we decided to do so.

"This looks like Greek," Aquarius tapped one of the sentences with circles and curves and lines. "And this looks like Jawi," She pointed at one with curves and dots. "Hakime, can you read this?"

"Let's see," Hakime studied the sign for a few seconds. "It says, 'Danger Ahead',"

"What kind of danger could it be?" Zek peered through the cracks. "Falling rocks? Unstable ceiling? Poisonous gas?"

"I think those are impossible in this world," Kim said. "The only danger possible is an excessive amount of lava,"

"Or there's too much drops," Rex suggested. "To be honest, I kind of wanna go back onto the trail. This place is creepy,"

"We are not turning back," Neonz snapped. "I spent three thousand Koins for this piece of information. We can't just chicken out,"

"Then the information must be whole," Aquarius turned to face the grey-haired boy. "Spill it, and then we decide,"

"This mine was a gem mine," Neonz started. "It was loaded with gems, plus it is a huge cave system. When the mining company of Bellona Kingdom heard about the news, they sent in miners and mined everything they could. They continued on mining till two years ago, where disaster struck,"

"A careless miner stepped on a stray silverfish one day. All the silverfishes within 10 blocks of the miner exploded out of their blocks and swarmed him. He was killed on the spot, and his mining partner barely escaped without his feet getting chewed off,"

"Wow, that's scary," Simon shivered. "That's a bad consequence for stepping on a silverfish,"

"It is," Neonz nodded. "I could have taken that as a story, but something bothers me. Why are there so many silverfish in the caves? Wasn't that rare?"

"Now that you said so, it does seem strange," Aquarius nodded. "Maybe they are guarding something important,"

"Let's go in, then," Mass suggested. "I wanna find out about that 'something important', and we have three thousand Koins to earn!"

We broke down the blockade, but that was before I noticed a space wide enough for someone about Metro or Mass' size to crawl through. I figured it was nothing, but it proved that I was wrong. Jason took off his helmet and we went in.

We went deeper into the caves, collecting stray ores which the miners might've missed or didn't need them. Even though the money we've earned is enough, we don't want to take any chances. Might as well save up more.

"I wonder if the dead miner's ghost is still here," Metro blurted out of the blue. "I wanna see him,"

"He most probably won't," Aquarius answered. "A ghost consists of only Yin, and there are so many people here, making Yang stronger than its Yin. If he tried coming closer, he might've burn up literally, or maybe got sick,"

"Which religion believes in that?" I asked, chipping another ore off the stone.

"Chinese ghost theory," She answered. "Very creative. There's still more that I don't know,"

We went deeper into the cave, mining and looting the occasional chest. Apparently some of the miners emptied their backpacks into the chest, and then forgot to take the contents. It saved us a lot of time, to be honest.

We came to a crossroad. The routes in front and to the right of us were obviously explored, as there are torches down those ways. The one to the left has faint light shining through the tunnel, and the lights are swaying. This means there's either another opening down here or there are other people in the mines.

The light grew brighter; meaning whoever is wielding the torch is coming towards the crossroad. We extinguished our light source while Jason put on his helmet, and we hid behind the various obstacles in the mine. I ended up hiding behind a minecart with Lachlan in it.

The light wielder appeared at the crossroad, showing us girl of about 14. She has long black hair held together by a pink bow. Her skin looks tanned, and she wore a grey long sleeved shirt with a pink heart in the middle. She also wore purple jeans and blue sneakers. When she turned to look our way, I saw that her eyes are of a different color. Her left eye is black while the other is purple.

"Who's there?" She drew her sword. "Before I come your way, show yourself!"

Mass got up from his hiding place, looking different. Metro and Hakime did the same, and there they stood in their hybrid form: white dragon wings, claws and tails. What were they thinking?

 _Deadlox POV_

"Dude!" Aquarius yelled. "What are you guys doing?"

The three didn't answer. Instead, they stared at the girl, probably attempting to scare her away. The problem is that we are standing in the way of the only exit, meaning we have cornered her.

Bodil and Simon pulled the three away from the exit tunnel. "Sorry, girl," Simon apologized, which wasn't like him. "You can leave. We're just chilling. Nothing else,"

The girl calmed down a little, but she doesn't seem to be convinced. "Why are you guys teaming up with hybrids? They are dangerous. Plus, that is against the rules,"

"Hey, we aren't!" Hakime protested, changing back to normal. "We aren't that aggressive, and I don't even stay in the kitchen when my mum is killing something!"

The girl eyed us with suspicion, so I decided to change the subject. "How did you get in here? The barrier wasn't broken,"

"There is," Vikk said. "Before you guys break it down, I saw a small space in the corner big enough for her to crawl through. I'm not too sure, but the hole seemed to have been there for quite a while,"

"Yeah," The girl admitted after a while. "I came across this place by accident, and had been coming ever since. It's just a few days ago that I realized that this place is important, and the story is true,"

"You mean the story about the dead miner?! Neonz asked. "The one that was killed by a hoard of silverfishes?"

"That's the one," The girl confirmed. "I had a feeling that the silverfishes are there for a reason; maybe they are guarding something important,"

"That's exactly what we think," Aquarius said. "We were going to investigate when you showed up,"

"The way I came from is where the miner was killed," The girl pointed at the tunnel on the left. "It ends not far down, and there is a space of about 20 blocks in diameter. A set of skeleton lied on the bottom of the space with a diamond pickaxe beside it. The clothes are gone, for some reason. I could have went digging myself, but I was scared to provoke the silverfishes. I was going to get some of my friends down here to help,"

"We can help you," Jerome offered. "We are on the same goal too, so why not work together?"

The girl tilted her head, as if considering the option. "Okay," She finally said. "But we have to introduce ourselves first. I am EnderGirl,"

We introduced ourselves one by one and went onto the left tunnel together. The tunnel is long, and somehow the tunnel wasn't cleared of gems. We collected a few and decided to come back for them on our way back. We can't run fast with a heavy backpack if we ran into trouble, can we?

After a few turns, we arrived at the big space EnderGirl told us earlier. It looks exactly like how she's described, except there seemed to be a smell in the air. It seems sweet like strawberries, yet it seemed bitter. It's kind of hard to describe, since I'd never smell anything like it before. Except for me, only Aquarius, Hakime, Metro, Mass, Lachlan and Vikk smell it. Aquarius scrunched up her face at one whiff.

"Ginseng," She said with distaste. "What is that thing doing down here?"

"What are you talking about?" Neonz asked. "What ginseng? Where is it?"

I ignored him. "That is the smell of ginseng?" I asked Aquarius.

"To be more specific, it's the taste of the water when it is boiled with it," She stuck out her tongue. "I never liked that taste,"

"Now, guys," Jason pointed at the spherical space. "If the thing we are looking for is somewhere around here, how are we going to get past the silverfish-infested blocks? We don't even know which is which?"

Aquarius took a step closer to the rim. "The smell got stronger here," She said. "I think that would be our lead,"


	13. Chapter 13

**Ten days since my last story update. 0_o I planned to upload it every three days, but my brother didn't study and neither did I, mum kinda ground us from using the computer... :P This is not your average American family, so bear with me, okay? I'll do my best to write whenever I could, and I'd possibly upload every week. The schedule's gonna be that till I got over the 'no computer' period...**

 _ZexyZek POV_

"What lead?" I asked. "I smell nothing!"

Aquarius looked at me like I just dropped from space. "You didn't? How is that possible?"

"Ahem," EnderGirl coughed. "I don't know if you were hallucinating or what, because I didn't smell anything either. Maybe you are like one of those humans who has special powers. Maybe you can smell things that normal people can't smell. At the time where the hybrids are at the peak of their power, these people are often mistaken as hybrids,"

"But I'm not a special human," Aquarius said. "Last I check, I wasn't even one at all,"

EnderGirl stared at her for a few. "You are a hybrid too?"

"If my memory serves me correctly, yes," Aquarius nodded. "In fact, everyone here is a hybrid,"

"...You guys reborned, right?" She asked. "My grandma used to tell me stories about the dark ages, and if you guys aren't reborned, you would be, like, 60-70 years old right now,"

"That's the thing," I said. "None of us remembered that we had a past life, and we knew nothing until a few months ago and were sent back here three weeks ago because we had some 'unfinished business' here,"

"Then you guys might now be cruel like before," EnderGirl decided. "Aquarius, what hybrid are you?"

"Ender Dragon," Aquarius replied. "I know that dragons had superior hearing, but that's it. What else do I get?"

"Well, they have a very good sense of smell too, and they are the strongest among all known species of mobs and animals. They can also fly to a very high altitude, and the scales on their forearms, wings and tail are invincible. The only bad thing for them is that their mana reservoir is the lowest among all hybrids, meaning they can't do major magic,"

"That explains why I smell it too," Deadlox said. "Can we go on with finding this 'treasure' the silverfishes are guarding? We don't have all day,"

Aquarius jumped into the hole and landed beside the skeleton. She sniffed the air. "It got stronger here," She observed. "I think the item we're looking for is under this stone,"

"But this place is filled with who knows how many silverfish," Lachlan said. "How are we gonna get past them without getting killed?"

"Notch created the game according to this world, right?" Aquarius pulled out her pickaxe and battleaxe. "If my hunch is correct, we can easily get to the treasure without getting killed,"

To demonstrate, she mined out a stone on the walls. A silverfish popped out of the block, and it hissed before chasing after her. When it lunged, she cut it in half, killing it on the spot. We waited for the place to explode with silverfish, but it never happened.

"It worked!" She smiled. "If a silverfish was killed in one hit, it won't get to summon its comrades,"

"I think I read that somewhere before," Baki volunteered. "It recommends that we use a diamond sword on the silverfish because it one-shot them,"

Rex climbed into the crater to help Aquarius while we waited on the rim. A few moments later, Rex bounded up the stairway they made.

"Guys!" He yelled. "We found a stronghold!"

"An End dungeon?" EnderGirl stood up. "We're that lucky?"

"Aquarius said that the smell got stronger down there," He continued. "Let's get down there!"

The staircase ended with a drop through one of the corridors' ceiling. Aquarius had went and light up the whole length of the corridor, so we can see where we are going. She watched us as we dropped through the ceiling, and asked her question.

"The smell got stronger down the corridor," She said. "Do we follow the smell or explore this place first?"

"I say we follow the smell," I said. "I kinda want to know what's making that smell you guys talked about,"

The others muttered agreement, and we started down the corridor. Metro looked like he would gag at the smell, but said nothing. A few twists and turns later, we found ourselves in the room where the End Portal stood. The portal was activated, strangely, since the silverfish spawner wasn't removed or disabled.

"I think the smell came from the portal membrane," Deadlox went forward and broke the spawner. "Do we go into the portal?"

"Maybe the Ender Dragon won't kill us," EnderGirl said. "Aquarius is his daughter, so it would seem like she's going home and brought friends along,"

Aquarius stared at the portal, deep in thought. Finally, she said, "Let's go, then,"

 _Aquarius POV_

Isaac told us what happened in the basement of the abandoned shack a few days ago, and he told us that one of us has memories from our past lives. We all have our guesses on who is the memory holder, but I'd got the answer.

I am the one.

The memories aren't always there. It would only come to me when something triggered it, like when I set my eyes on the End Portal. I saw myself and Deadlox playing in The End, where I seemed older than him; me sparring with an older Deadlox; 5 years old us led by a human with purple scales, claws, wings and tail towards the portal to the way out, etc. Everything is related to The End, which I guess is where Deadlox and I had spent our childhood time.

I stepped into the portal, and darkness engulfed me. Familiar coldness seeped into my bones, which are then replaced by strong wind. I opened my eyes and saw the lands of The End, which was very different from what I'd known.

The obsidian towers still have the Ender Crystals on it, but the tower itself looks different. A few parts had been mined out to make room for windows and balconies, which have Endermen of all shapes and sizes. Purple blocks marked the paths, and strange foliage grew along the paths. Basically, it's an End City.

"Whoa…" Mass materialized beside me, followed by the others. "This is NOT the End I'd imagined,"

"Me neither," Deadlox said, standing beside me. "I'd always thought that it would be empty, like in the game. This place is completely different, though it seems familiar to me,"

We walked off the platform off the mainland onto an obsidian bridge. I admired the place I'd called home a few lives before as the structures are spectacular. The bottom level of the towers is shops while the rest are residences. Little endermen ran around the courtyard, playing some sort of game. They only stopped to stare at us crossing the courtyard, and then resume their game.

"So this is The End," EnderGirl stared in awe. "My dad told me about this place, and he named me EnderGirl coz he wished that I can visit someday,"

"Well, his wish came true," Lachlan said. "To be honest, I don't think 1.9 would have places like this,"

"What 1.9?" EnderGirl asked. "What are you talking about?"

Before we could reply, the doors to a fancy-looking tower were flung open. The guy I saw in my memory vision ran out and hugged me and Deadlox. "You guys made it back alive!" He cried.

…Wait what?


	14. Chapter 14

**deadpoolthekid42: But there are no butterflies in caves! Maybe he'll get distracted by the bow on Ashley's head. (Okay I'll leave)**

* * *

 _Nanosounds POV_

"Who is this guy?" Rex asked, pointing at the strange guy that ran out of the big building and tackled Aquarius and Deadlox. "You guys know him?"

Aquarius said, "Yes," while Deadlox said, "No!" at the same time, then stared at each other in confusion. "You know this guy?" Deadlox asked Aquarius.

"Well, not exactly," Aquarius tried pushing the scaly guy away. "I saw him in my dreams, and since there is so much thing that we don't know in this world I assumed that he existed,"

"Wait, you two don't remember me?" The guy stopped hugging them. "I'm your father!"

"The Ender Dragon?" We asked at the same time. That guy looked nothing like the big dragon we fight in the game. He has dark purple scales and features that Aquarius and Deadlox both had back on Earth. He grinned when we said his name.

"Yes, that's indeed me!" He patted Aquarius' shoulder and ruffled Deadlox's hair, making it messier. "I'm glad you two make it back alive. I am not allowed to go to the overworld as much, so what's new?"

"We got hunted right after we came back," Deadlox complained. "And we almost got killed in a dungeon. Can't you just stop those people? Like wipe their minds of what we'd done before?"

"That isn't possible," Ender Dragon let go of the two. "Only the four oldest gods can do that. One has been reduced to particles while the other three had decided long ago not to interfere with the world's affairs,"

"I thought there was only one," I asked. "Wasn't it only Notch?"

"It's actually 4," EnderGirl spoke. "They are Notch, Jeb_, Dinnerbone and Fate. I heard That Fate was turned to particles because she seemed to have too much power on her hands,"

"That's right," Ender Dragon nodded. "But since we are in safe heaven, why don't we just relax for a bit?"

He led us into the castle, which looked more like a modern house than medieval style. The walls and ceiling are the color of Endstone, while the floor is the same purple stuff for the pathways outside, only it is chiseled. The furniture is either the color of Endstone or shades of purple. The Ender Dragon must really like purple.

"Make yourselves comfortable," He went into the kitchen. We sat down on the various couches (which seemed to have multiplied since we entered the room) and looked around, admiring the decoration.

"This place is awesome," Metro grinned. "I wish my dad or mum's place is as awesome as this,"

"It would probably be a layered emerald tree," Lachlan suggested from across the room. "Your dad is The King, and he usually spawns on those kinds of tree in CrazyCraft,"

It's strange how we got used to the fact that our parent is a mob, but since so much stuff had happened that seems illogic I guess we'd just adapted to it.

The Ender Dragon came out carrying two trays of tea like how the waiters do in restaurants. Aquarius went and helped relieve one of the trays like what a child should do. "Thanks, Aquarius," The god patted her head. "I knew sending you to an Asian family is the right choice,"

Aquarius passed tea around and said nothing, like she accepts everything completely or doesn't know what to say. The expression she had right now is her idle face, so we never knew what she's thinking.

"Ender Drag- I mean, dad," Deadlox started. "We aren't actually here to stay. We found the End Portal and decided to investigate, so…"

"Then just take a rest," The god smiled. "It must have been hard for all of you for the past few weeks,"

"Actually, it's been a few months," Aquarius corrected. "One question. Are there Minecraft mobs on Earth?"

"There are a few," Ender Dragon nodded. "That's where the skeleton and zombie stories came from. Why did you ask?"

"When we discovered that we are hybrids, we were captured and trapped in a research facility," She answered. "We hooked up with one of the workers, and he told us that a very tall guy gave his bosses the orders to capture us. If there are really Minecraft mobs on Earth, it could only be a Wither Skeleton,"

I remembered Alby's words while he is hanging out with us. He did said that a guy came to the research facility a while before we were captured. That guy was wearing a lot of clothes, and his mask was a black charred skull. What if the skeleton represented itself like that and said that its face is actually a mask? Now it all makes sense.

"I heard from Notch that the world's villain is the Wither Boss," Aquarius continued. "If the Wither has people working for him, it would most likely be a Wither Skeleton, right?"

"Then we should just stay away from the Wither Skeletons," Metro concluded. "They work for this boss guy, so if we don't go near them they won't have anything to report to their boss, right?"

"Actually, any mob could be working for the Wither," Ender Dragon said. "The mobs wouldn't work for the Wither willingly, so it's easy to differentiate between the good ones and the bad ones. The good ones have eyes like us while the bad ones have eyes that are all black,"

"Guys," Jerome turned to us. "We didn't kill any of the good ones in dungeons, did we?"

"The good ones usually don't appear in dungeons," Ender Dragon explained. "They spawn in other places that are friendlier, but even now those places seemed to be unfriendly,"

"This place is so confusing," Simon complained. "Why Notch have to make this world confusing?"

"Earth is confusing too," Aquarius reminded. "It's just that we are used to it. It would be the same for us once we got used to it,"

 _Woofless POV_

The Ender Dragon wanted us to stay for the night but we insisted on leaving. Before we go, the Ender Dragon handed Aquarius and Deadlox each a purple giant sword with an eye on the joining part of the hilt and the guard. "Only an Ender Dragon Hybrid can wield this," He explained. "Because only they have the strength to lift and swing it. It deals a lot of damage, and can also be used as a shield. The problem is that only the most skilled blacksmiths can fix this, so don't use it unless you're in a bad situation,"

He handed Lachlan a box the size of his hand. "When the time comes, you'll know what to do with it," The dragon told him. He took a peek of the contents and his eyes widened. He shuts the box quickly, and did not let anyone know what's in the box. It's the first time he's being so secretive.

He also gave EnderGirl a necklace with a gem carved into an eye of ender. "Your father visited me before," He said. "He is the only mortal to respect the customs here, and I see that you did too. You will always be an honorable guest in The End, meaning you can visit anytime you like," The girl beamed at those words.

We were going to step into the exit portal when the Ender Dragon stopped us. He pinned a plastic purple start to Aquarius' backpack. "This thing is loaded," he explained. "But you should be able to buy refill packs at the cities. I know you would like to collect them again, so I save it,"

"Hey, what is this thing for?" Zek asked. Aquarius took one look at the item and shrugged. The Ender Dragon was gone, so we did nothing else then jumping into the exit portal.

~~Time Skip with the Power of Notebooks~~

"Which way are you going, EnderGirl?" Preston asked after we got out of the gem mine. "We can walk together if we're going the same way,"

"I'm going to Town Ptah," She answered. "That is going through Zeus Empire,"

"We're heading to Zeus Empire too," Preston answered. "Let's walk together, then,"

EnderGirl led us through a valley of trees. Every now and then, a bird would fly over our heads and chipmunks darting across the trail. The animals weren't even afraid of us, and one squirrel even sat on my shoulder at one point. Neonz joked that we're in the land of Snow White.

Halfway through the valley, EnderGirl looked up at one of the trees. "Guys, look!" She pointed. "There's a chest in the tree!"

Before any of us could react, Lachlan and Aquarius had climbed onto the top. They were the ones that are eager to open loot chest, and this is one of the situations. Both of them slammed their palm on the lid of the chest, and none of them is letting the other open it.

"Doesn't that kind of chest hold Inventory Pets?" Bodil asked. The two on the tree heard it, and it seems like they both wanted the pet. They glared at each other, possibly trying to scare the other person into giving up on the pet.

"Guys, chill," EnderGirl held up her hand. "Usually the pet choses its master, so you guys don't need to fight. Just calm down, open the chest and let the pet choose,"

The two glanced at each other and complied. They opened the chest and a little creeper climbed out of the chest, still covered in leaves. It shook its head and stretched its body like it had been in the chest for a long time, and looked around. It gazed at Lachlan and Aquarius for a few seconds, and then bounded towards Aquarius.

"I got him!" Aquarius smiled, petting the pet's head. It nudged Aquarius like a cat, then climbed towards the purple start her dad gave her. Something got dispensed out of the star, and the creeper ate it.

"I think the creeper chose you because it wants to eat," Lachlan pouted. "I bet that thing your dad gave you is a feeder,"

"Having a feeder doesn't mean the pet would choose you for sure," EnderGirl explained. "All the feeder does is feeding the pet automatically when they are hungry,"

"Where am I gonna keep this pet?" Aquarius hopped down from the top of the tree (and I mean literally). "I'm pretty sure I'm gonna squash it if I put it in my backpack,"

"Just let it be," EnderGirl replied just as the creeper left Aquarius' backpack and floated around her. "Non-flying types can levitate around you, while flying types can fly further, so you don't have to worry about flattening them,"

"That is neat," Lachlan watched the creeper, which settled on top of his head. "I think we should keep going; the sun is setting,"


	15. Chapter 15

**Got into the school singing competition. Woo Hoo! The competition starts in July, and I'm determined to win anyway.**

 **Wish me luck!**

* * *

 **I was bad with poems and stuff, so when I realize I have to write a prophecy I almost fell over. This is the best I can do, and might improve in the future. Whichever way, I guess.**

 _Rex POV_

We reached Zeus Empire two days after we went into the End dungeon. We stayed there for a few days, reading books from the local library and generally trying to understand the world better. I focused on magic-related books because one blacksmith guy took one look at me and said that I specialize in magic. I know it sounds dumb, focusing on magic stuff just because some random guy said that I can do it, but I'd been having dreams about me doing it before that guy told me about it, so I figure I'd trust him.

Aquarius read almost anything; from mobs to weapons to regions to history of the world. I wouldn't have been able to read all of them, but you can trust me that Aquarius had a mind of a computer, and she reads really fast. A book about the thickness of three index fingers? She can finish that in one day. No joke.

The others either read books like me and Aquarius did or hangs out at those adventurers' bars. EnderGirl said that those places are good for getting information for free, since all you have to do is sit and listen to people sitting beside us chatting away.

When Aquarius decided that her mind is receiving too much information, which is 5 days later, we left Zeus Empire. Somehow, news about capturing us hadn't got to the place, which is kind of a relief. Hopefully those crazy people hadn't found out about CreeperMC5 and ThomasYi67 yet.

~~Time Skip with the Power of Team Crafted~~

"I wonder how long this rain would last," Jason peeked out of the cave we're in. We were travelling through the forest when the rain strikes. Luckily, there's a cave nearby, providing shelter and letting us spend the night.

"Through the night, I guess," Kim stirred the stew bubbling in a big pot. While we are bunking in Zeus Empire, Kim found a recipe book and wrote down the ones we can cook in the wild. This means we won't have to eat steak and bread all the time. It's kind of a plus.

Silence for a few moments, then Metro spoke. "Is it done?" He asked, staring at the pot of stew. The smell is so nice my tummy started to grumble. Almost everyone in the room is waiting for the stew to be done, since we are starving.

"Not yet," Kim answered. "Wait another five minutes,"

Metro groaned and leaned backwards. "Why does it have to be so slow?" He complained. "Can't we just eat it now?"

"Unless you want to have an upset stomach, go ahead," Jason moved deeper into the cave from his position at the entrance and took off his helmet. "Wake me when the stew is done,"

To distract myself from the thought of dinner for just a few minutes, I pulled out my notebook and read the page with a piece of information from Loki Village. On it was written a prophecy, though I don't know what it foresees.

 _The Elder would have commit crimes_

 _But would fix everything through host and sacrifice_

 _One's life would be given to seal the three-headed_

 _And break the link of the half-bloods_

I'm confused. Who is 'The Elder'? And who is this 'three-headed' thingy? According to the prophecy, someone would die, or sacrifice him or herself, and I don't like people dying. I have to find out who this person is and try to stop the prophecy.

"Dinner's done," Kim's voice stopped my thoughts. Aquarius handed her a couple of 25 bowls, and she helped Kim serve the stew. They served according to age, as I've noticed; meaning Metro would be the last to get his dinner.

The stew has potatoes, carrots and chicken meat in it. Hakime refused the stew until Aquarius assured him, saying that Kim put chicken in the stew. The stew was delicious, and I got two refills. The pot was almost emptied in a couple of minutes.

 _ASFJerome POV_

Feet squishing against the grass were heard, and we all spun to see a kid running towards us. He looks about fifteen, and has red eyes and brown hair. He wore a white jacket and a pair of jeans, which were kept dry all thanks to his red hood. He wore black sneakers, and a cool-looking sword was strapped to his back.

"Mind if I take cover here?" He entered the cave. "It was raining and everything, so…"

"It's okay," Jason said from the back of the cave. "There's plenty of space here,"

All of us, including the boy, looked in his direction and gasped. Mitch reacted faster than us. "Jason, your helmet!"

He froze for a second or two, scrambled and ran into the darkness at the back of the cave. The boy stared at us. "You guys let a hybrid stay?"

"Why not?" Aquarius acted calm, which she was really good at. "He's hungry and trapped in the rain like you. It wasn't humane to leave him out there,"

"But there are orders to kill a hybrid on first sight," He answered. "And helping them is against the rules,"

"Reasons?"

"Hybrids are very cruel," The boy said. "They will kill anyone that goes against them immediately. You are lucky that he doesn't have a weapon,"

"He does," She pointed at Jason's cutlass lying where he'd been. "We aren't a bit worried about it,"

"Are you sure?" the kid looked like he's tempted to pull out his sword and kill Jason. "I don't really think he can be trusted…"  
"Trust me, he can be trusted," EnderGirl put in. "Actually, he was with us from Bellona Kingdom, and he wasn't that aggressive. He won't harm us,"

"You looked hungry," Ashley changed the subject. "Wanna try the stew Kim made? It taste good,"

"And you looked like you're cold," Jerome dragged the boy beside the fire as Ashley handed him a bowl of stew. "What's your name?"

"MetaCrisis1337," He answered, eyeing the stew. "Or you can call me Martin,"

While the rain got on and on, we convinced MetaCrisis1337 that Jason wasn't a bad person and can be trusted. Luckily, Meta wasn't on the anti-hybrids people's side, so we convinced him easily. "But we still have to be careful," Aquarius said after the kid and a few others are asleep. "We still don't know if he would go and tell our secrets once he left us,"

The rain stopped the next morning, and the ground is muddy. After a few steps, the edges of my pants got caked in mud, making me roll up my pants. The others did the same, and Zek suggested that we get some boots when we got to the next city.

As we walked, Rex told us about the prophecy he found. He thinks that we should find the person mentioned in this prophecy as he or she might know about the prophecy. Aquarius countered that we should find out about the 'three-headed one' and 'the Elder', since those words seemed to be the key puzzle piece to cracking the prophecy.

Rex checked the map to make sure that we are going the right way, then continued on. It's a pity that the map shows us the landscapes as all plains. Since we started using the map, we had found forests, mountains and savannas. Most of us are ready to bet that one of the closest routes we saw on the map would lead us across either a volcano or a wasteland. Either way, it won't be pretty.


	16. Chapter 16

**Credits to the author of _The Six Sacred Stones_ and _The Five Greatest Warriors_ , Matthew Reily! He wrote about these scenes, and all I do is tweaking the details a little. You guys should go read his book, they're awesome (even though the book might be super thick :P).**

 _CraftBattleDuty POV_

The route we chose took us to a cliff by the sea. Or it might just be a huge lake. Rex consulted the map as Metro and Mass peeked over the edge at the waters and the rocks below.

"Our destination is across this sea," Rex said. "I say we build a boat and row across,"

Aquarius, who'd joined the kids seconds ago, called from the edge of the cliff. "Is it just me, or is there a doorway down there?"

We joined her, peeking at the wall of the cliff. There is indeed a hangar-like doorway cut neatly out of the stone. Well, I suppose it should be neatly cut since we're in a place like Minecraft. Some of the water flowed into the doorway, so the floor should be slippery. Somehow some of Earth's physics applies in here.

"Do you guys think this is another dungeon?" Bodil asked. "This entrance seems too fancy,"

"We'll never know if we don't check it out," Aquarius pulled out some blocks from her backpack and started building a staircase downwards. "The waves aren't that aggressive. We can go into the doorway, check it out, then sail across the waters from there,"

Since we wasn't in a hurry, and the news about hunting us hadn't spread much, we decided to give it a try. It took us a while to get to the entrance, but the effort is worth it. The hangar-like entrance is indeed covered in moss, but it doesn't conceal the beautiful carvings on the walls.

For some reason, a strange symbol showed up one by one. It shows a circle with six triangles pointing inwards, to the center of the circle. A rectangle is mounted to the tip of the triangles, and some sort of laser shot out of the rectangles, meeting at the center.

"This place is huge!" MetaCrisis1337 exclaimed. "I wonder who made this; it would take years!"

"For us, maybe a few hours," Aquarius muttered. "But that's for the game, though,"

"Guys," Jason walked out from beyond the darkness. "There's more here, and I think you guys should see this,"

We followed him though the dark, where nothing gives off light except for Preston's mask and Sky's amulet. Deadlox's headset is also glowing, though I'd have to look very hard to see the glow. It was later that someone remembered to place torches.

A while later, we arrive in someplace that seemed larger. The torch placed did no good in illuminating the area. "We can't see anything!" Rob protested. "How are we suppose to see anything without any light?"

"We better don't venture out without knowing what's beyond," EnderGirl suggested. "Jason, can you see what's beyond?"

Jason took off his helmet, and the glow of his eyes illuminated the area a little more. "I saw towers. Lots of them," He looked around. "They are of different height, and has bridges linking all of them. There's a stair-like structure in the middle. It looks like a pyramid-"

"Ziggurat?" Aquarius interrupted. "Is that a ziggurat?"

"Yeah," Jason confirmed. "There is water around the base of all these structures, and the water is very deep. We can't swim through,"

"Are there docks?" Vikk asked. "I mean stone platforms that looked like they're for ships,"

"There are two," Jason pointed into the darkness. "One is right there, while the other one is the platform we're standing on,"

"Sounds like Ur," Aquarius said. "It fits the description of the place,"

"What's Ur?" MetaCrisis1337, Metro and Mass asked.

"It's an ancient city in Mesopotamia, or modern Iran," Vikk explained. "But, Aquarius. There are no towers in the city of Ur. There is only the ziggurat and the two harbors,"

Aquarius froze, blinking a few seconds later. Maybe it's just me," She said, looking nervous. "Don't mind me,"

"The bridges weren't fully linked," Jason said. "It has two sections cut out, enough for us to jump across. There are three big slabs in the middle of each bridge, and the slabs are too far apart for us to jump from one to another,"

"Multiple-choice questions," Ian said. "We can only choose one answer, and I bet we're going to wage our lives to get across,"

 _ASFJerome POV_

EnderGirl lighted a torch, and we approached the first bridge. On the tongue of the bridge is a question carved in some sort of strange language. Our first thought is that Rex could read this, so all of us turned to look at him.

"What?" He didn't get the idea. "Why are you guys looking at me?"

"Come," Ian pushed him towards the question written. "Translate this,"

Before he could say anything, Aquarius lighted her own torch and checked the writing. "It says, 'What is the best number of eyes?'"

"You can read this?" Simon gasped. "This thing is all gibberish!"

"Some people are born to be able to read certain writing," MetaCrisis1337 explained. "This here is called the Fantasian Alphabet. Like the Galactic Alphabet, it is one of the oldest alphabets in this world. The difference is that Galactic is used in magic-related manuscripts while Fantasian is found in almost anywhere ancient,"

"This guy here is born to read Galactic, then," Aquarius nudged Rex. "I don't think I was born to read Fantasian, though. It was present in one of those novels back home, and I memorized it because I was bored. I can read the alphabet, but not the numbers. Anyway, can we move on?"

"The best number of eyes?" Vikk repeated. "What's written on the slabs, Aquarius?"

She shone her torch over the slabs. "It's numbers in Thoth," She reported. "Three options: one, two and three,"

I wanted to ask her how she knew Thoth, but we have better things to worry right now. I'd never heard any quote about the best number of eyes, and I'm sure no one else had. This is gonna take a while.

"I remembered this from a big book," Rex recalled. "I think it is a novel. I think it's called six something something-"

"The Six Sacred Stones," Aquarius suggested.

"Yes, that book," Rex nodded. "All I remembered is that it is originated from Egypt,"

"Egypt?" My mind started shifting through the possibilities. I don't usually read, but I can sometimes remember bits of information. "Could it be one? Cause the Egyptian drawings all have one eye,"

"We can test it out," Aquarius looked around. "But we need someone who could fly. Or someone who could react fast when they're falling,"

"I say we let Jason test it," Duncan dragged the spaceman to the front. "Come on, step onto the slabs,"

"But why me?" Jason struggled. "Why not someone else? Like Hakime? Or Metro? Or Mass?"

"Dude," Kim poked his head. "Those three were just kids. You're among the eldest who could fly, so you should go,"

Jason looked like he's going to run away, but has no choice but to oblige. Aquarius pointed him the right slab, and he jumped onto it. We expected the slab to break and drop Jason into the waters below, but the slab held. Ashley pulled out a bit of dye to color the right path, and we went across.


	17. Chapter 17

**Is it exams time for you guys? Might be, and it is for me too. I don't even know if I could pass tbh. I absolutely suck at Physics, and why do people had do calculate f(x) to draw a graph? It makes absolutely no sense.**

 **Wonder if I should take my notebook into the exams? If I'd ever finish my paper in 15 minutes (which happens most of the time), I could write down any ideas that came into my mind. But if the teachers doesn't allow it and took it away, that means I'd lost those valuable ideas and those 18+ stories that took up most of the space of the book… Wait, what did I just said?**

 _Skydoesminecraft POV_

It might have taken us a couple of hours to get across the bridges, as we are all exhausted when we arrived at the ziggurat. The structure itself is made of nether bricks dotted with obsidian, and it could have been 7 stories tall if compared with an apartment building.

"I guess we'll have to climb the stairs," Vikk looked up, panting. "The entrance is usually on top of the ziggurat,"

The others said nothing, being tired from crossing the numerous bridges. A few bridges were very steep, so it's like mountain climbing stimulation. Most of us weren't used to that much action, so we're almost out of breath by the time we got to the base of the ziggurat.

"Can...We...take a rest?" Metro panted, dropping himself on the ground. "I can't climb the stairs in this condition,"

The ziggurat is shaped like a crude pyramid, and has stairs on the front that lead to the top. The builders probably don't want us to scale the bare surface for fear that we might chip off the decorations. No one protested against the idea of taking a rest, so we took a seat around the base of the stairway.

"What do you guys think is in this ziggurat?" Aquarius asked after a long while of silence. "I bet it is things used for rituals,"

"Possibly," Vikk nodded. "Ziggurats are used by Mesopotamians as a sacrificial temple. The sacrifices, usually humans, have to climb to the top of the ziggurat. There, the priests cut their chests open and take their heart out while they are alive. The body is then thrown down the steps of the ziggurat,"

"Ew," Ashley gagged. "That's so disgusting,"

"It's what ancient people do, dude," Aquarius rolled her eyes. "You hadn't heard what ancient China do to the male prisoners-"

"Hell, no!" Rex covered her mouth. "Don't remind me of that!"

We began to climb the stairs. It's a long way up, and the sides have Fantasian carved into it. Aquarius read them, her expression became serious. Usually, she had a crazy look on her, but now it's gone.

"We're here," Rob and Preston called from the summit of the structure. "There's a square hollow here with a two-block pillar on each corner. Looks like we need a key,"

We sprinted the rest of the way up. Like how the two had described, there is indeed a three by three hollow in the middle of the tower. The pillars in the corners are made of prismarine bricks, granite, red stained clay and quartz pillar. There were indentions on top of each pillar, probably meaning we have to place something on it.

"This one looks a lot like an emerald," MetaCrisis1337 was standing on his toes, trying to see the indentation on the granite pillar. "Do we put an emerald in this?"

We still have gems leftover from our adventure in the mines, so we put an emerald on the pillar. A bolt of pinkish-green light shot out of the gem and hit the top of the cavern. It lighted up the space a little, letting us see a bit more.

"What are the others?" Preston asked, struggling to see the indentation of the clay pillar. He was only slightly taller than MetaCrisis1337, and that didn't help. "This one looks like a ruby,"

A ruby was placed. A reddish light shot up, lighting up half of the cave. We then placed a sapphire and a diamond on the prismarine and quartz pillars respectively, and the whole cavern lighted up. The ziggurat rumbled, and the bottom of the hollow slid away, revealing a floor below infested with mobs.

"Game time," Aquarius pulled out her battle axe. "We jump in on three,"

 _Hakime POV_

The space was small, and we cleared out that level within a matter of seconds. Neonz lighted a torch, and we saw another hollow in the ground perpendicular to the entrance above. This one is surrounded by blocks with indentions which look like a spider eye.

"Cool," Metro counted his fingers. "We need 16 spider eyes. Do we have enough?"

We do have some left over from our previous adventures. I myself had 5 of them sitting in the bottom of my backpack. The others did clean out their packs recently, but we managed to gather enough spider eyes. The key items were placed and the hollow slid open, revealing more mobs.

"Jesus Christ," Kim mumbled. "Didn't these dungeon builders thought of lighting their dungeons up?"

"If they do, it would become one with lots of riddles and puzzles," I pointed out. "In my opinion, this is the easiest kind of dungeon, unless they trapped some uncommon mobs in here,"

"I'm pretty sure they would," Mitch tilted his chin at the mobs below. "Probably trap one on the last few floors of this dungeon, or as the boss,"

It took us another two floors to realize that we can chuck Aquarius' creeper pet into the floor below to blow up the mobs a few times before we jump in. It can munch on snacks from the pet feeder while we mob up stragglers. It actually worked, but as each floor expanded in size, it became harder to do so. We have to mop up more mobs before going to the next floor.

We went down seven floors in total before coming to a hollow surrounded by blocks of gems. This time, there are no indentations for key items. Instead, there are three altars arranged to form a triangle around the hollow. The altar are red, blue and yellow respectively.

"We don't need keys for this?" Jerome asked. "How are we supposed to get to the last level?"

"Maybe we should drop items of the corresponding colors onto the colored altars," Simon suggested. "You guys had any items of these colors?"

We dug everything we had out of our backpacks and started placing them on the altars. We tried all kinds of combination, but none works. Aquarius gave up on placing the items a short while later and stood to one side, her eyes sweeping from one altar to another. Her mind is working.

"Guys," She said after 30 minutes. "It doesn't work that way. The key wasn't items; it's the hybrids the color represents,"

"Who are the keys, then?" Lachlan asked. "And will the altars suck them up?"

"I don't know if the altars would do that," Aquarius shrugged. "But I know who the keys are. It's three of the same race,"

I looked at everyone. The only race that has three hybrids is the Wither Boss and The King. The Wither Bosses had no corresponding colors, so that leaves The King hybrids. That means it's Metro, Mass, and me going on the altars.

"It's the King hybrids," Zek started pushing me towards the blue altar. "Here, you stand on this one-"

"It has to be their corresponding colors," Aquarius interrupted. "Can you guys switch to hybrid mode?"

We obliged. Aquarius studied us for a few moments, and then dragged me to the yellow altar. "Hakime, you're on this one," She said. "Metro's on the red one while Mass is on the blue one,"

"You look at the stripes on their face?" Duncan steered Metro to his corresponding altar. "Gosh, I didn't even think of it!"

As soon as Mass stood on his altar, we were encased in a force field of some sort. The force field is safe to touch, but we can't break free. At the same time, the hollow in the middle of the room slid open.

"Do we go down?" Baki started to panic. "We can't leave them here by themselves, can we?"

We turned to Aquarius automatically. She pursed her lips and tapped her chin. "No," She decided finally. "Half of us are going down to the last floor while the rest stay up here. Or maybe a quarter of us can stay here while the rest go on,"


	18. Chapter 18

**Happy Birthday to myself! xD Idk why I do that I must be crazy to say to myself.**

 _SimonHDS90 POV_

After a brief discussion, we decided to leave EnderGirl, MetaCrisis1337, Lachlan, Kim, Zek, Ashley and Vikk with the three dragon hybrids. Vikk's spear wound from our first dungeon wasn't healed completely, so we left him there to rest. According to him, he felt like the wound is reopening thanks to the seven floors of battle.

We dropped down to what looks like the last floor of the dungeon. The walls are made of all kinds of quartz block, and had corridors leading away from the room. This floor has light, but it's dim enough to give the creepy feeling and not let mobs spawn.

"Oh, no," Aquarius shuddered. "Are we gonna split up again? The last time we do, there are casualties,"

I thought of Vikk up top. When we split up to make things go faster, Vikk was hurt and Aquarius almost lost her nerve. None of us want it to happen again.

"Let's just go together," I suggested. "Takes more time, but better than us splitting up and hurt ourselves,"

"I suggest we split into 2 groups," Rex countered. "We go the opposite ways, then meet up at the center to exchange information. If we found nothing, we go the other two ways,"

Most people muttered agreement, and we split up. Our group has 9 people while the other has 10. It wasn't fair, really, but we really don't feel like calling another person down to make the teams even. Besides, none of our teammates mind.

We went into the northern corridor while the other team went into the southern one. A few blocks down, sapphires dotted the surface of the quartz block. We have to watch our steps to make sure we won't trip over. Bodil almost did on one, but we caught him on time so he won't have gem prints on his face. Come to think of it, it's pretty funny.

After a few turns down the corridor, we came to a room made of sapphire blocks. There was nothing in there except for a coffin-like structure in the middle of the room. It's made of quartz, and on it was painted a face and some glyphs on the sides. To me it looks a lot like an Egyptian coffin.

"Is this room Egyptian-themed?" Jerome asked. "If I'm not mistaken, Egyptian coffins have faces on them,"

Rex checked the four sides of the coffin, then stood up. You're right," He announced. "This room is Egyptian-themed. Look here; there is an eye of Horus painted,"

We went to the part of the coffin facing away from us. There is indeed an eye painted there, and it looked so real it's like it's looking at us. "What is this for?" I asked.

"If I'm not mistaken," Rex explained. "It allows the deceased to see the sun rise from the east. In Egyptian Mythology, the rising of the sun means reborn, so I guess it helps the guy in here to get to the afterlife,"

"Wait," Sky held up his hand. "You mean this coffin wasn't empty. There's a dead person in it. A mummy,"

"Most likely, yeah," Rex nodded. "You thing it would climb out and eat your face?"

"It'll probably work if we triggered something," Mitch shrugged. "We didn't touch anything, so we should be fine. Let's go back and tell the others about this,"

Everyone agreed, and we left the room. I glanced at the coffin one last time and found something strange. Did someone moved the lid open a little or is it already like that?

 _LividCoffee POV_

Our side has quartz studded with emeralds. Isaac fell and almost chipped his teeth on the gems. One of the gems on the wall came off, but we didn't take it. Preston did his best to stick it back on with a bit of slime he found lying randomly. I wasn't sure if slime is adhesive, but it would keep it there, at least.

"So many gems," Rob muttered. "I don't think I'll be surprised at someone's big diamond ring anymore when we're able to get back to Earth,"

We entered a room that looks a lot like the decorations that would be in Taj Mahal. The arch was pointed upwards in the middle, and the whole room is decorated with hand-carved mural on emerald blocks. In the middle of the room is a square box the size of a human.

"Is this a tomb?" Deadlox asked, scanning the room. The first impression the room gave me is a room for rituals. Now that Deadlox said so, it really looks like a coffin room in a tomb.

"Seems like it, yeah," Aquarius nodded. "Is this an Indian kind of tomb, though?"

"Possibly," Isaac answered. "I'd never visited Indian tombs, but this place gives the Indian kind of feeling. Should we call Vikk down here and take a look?"

"I kinda doubt he'll be able to identify this," Neonz said. "He's a British-Indian, right? The first impression he gave me wasn't Indian-like, so I don't think he knows,"

As the three argued, we explore the room. Except for the coffin, there is nothing else. Not even funerary items. This place was untouched, so there should be at least a statue or a chest. I went around the room, hoping that there is a hidden chest or a secret compartment. No, the place is absolutely empty.

"Shouldn't there at least be a small statue to go with the body?" I said my thoughts out loud. "How can this room be empty?"

"Did you check in the coffin?" Ian asked. "If they have too much items for the dead person, they would pile them outside the coffin. Otherwise they'd just fill up the inside of the coffin,"

"I say we tell the others about it first before opening it," Jason suggested. "We don't know what would happen if we open the coffin,"

We all agreed to leave the coffin first and proceeded out of the room. Before we walk out, I thought I heard a creak. Maybe it's just my imagination.


	19. Chapter 19

**MetaCrisisDR – tbh I don't think it's from the Legend of Zelda, but I got this idea from a book. I think I mentioned it a few chapters ago…**

 **Would you guys mind if I add some Chinese words? I'll put the meaning as well and only certain people can understand it. The others would take it as 'some other language'. Tell me if I should! It's good to learn another language, by the way. At least you recognize some of the words, yes?**

 _MinecraftUniverse POV_

We compared notes and decided that there is something going on that might involve the opening of coffins, but we can't be sure until we checked all 4 rooms. So far, we've seen an Egyptian-themed one and an Indian-themed one, and I'm ready to bet one of the rooms is a Chinese tomb.

We went into the Eastern corridor while the other group went into the Western one. The eastern one is dotted with ruby of all shapes and size. Jerome betted that this room is one of the eastern-styled tombs, and it proved that he's correct.

We emerged in a room made of stone bricks. The blocks looked like it was nibbled by a dozen rats (if the rats have steel teeth), but the ceiling looked like it could hold on for a couple of millennia. The ceiling is quite low, and the room looks like a quarter cylinder of 20 blocks long. On the flat wall is a coffin made of the same stone bricks covered by a slab of the same stuff. This must be the coffin.

"There were drawings here, I assume?" Simon knocked the walls with his knuckle. Looking closely, I can see traces of red and black paint. Possibly drawing about ancient Chinese life and whatnot.

"Of course there would be," Jerome shrugged. "All tombs have paintings on the walls of their tomb,"

"Or maybe words," Rex said from the far side of the room. He is looking at a section of wall by the entrance, which still has most of the paint, mysteriously. "There are a few strokes here that looked a lot like Chinese words, though I can't be sure. Can you guys come and take a look?"

"We don't even know Chinese, dude," Baki replied. "How are we supposed to help?"

"Maybe help me piece this thing together?" Rex answered. "Aquarius is the best at guessing, but she's in the other team. Come and see which part of the wall has black paint; I can't do this by myself,"

Bodil had a few ink sacs with him. Together, we pieced together the words on it until it filled the whole section of the wall. "Okay, guys," Rex stretched his body. "I can decipher this,"

"What does it say?" Simon nudged him. "I can't wait to know!"

"'When the kings were awakened from their deep slumber,'" Rex started translating. " 'They will release their fury on you. Their servants would assist them, and only the three-headed holy serpent could stop them,' "

"Three-headed holy serpent?" Jerome scratched his head. "What could that be?"

"Might be a riddle," Rex answered. "Most of ancient Chinese ones are, and that's why everyone has different opinions about the meaning of those ancient Chinese manuscripts,"

"'When the kings were awakened from their deep slumber,'" I recited. "That might mean opening the coffins and waking the – the thing inside,"

"The servants might be the people buried with them," Mitch guessed. "There might be hundreds, even thousands of them. I don't want to get attacked by them,"

"Let's see what the others think about it," Rex suggested. "They went into the Western corridor, right? Let's go find them immediately and seek their opinion-"

The room rumbled. Bits of debris felled from the ceiling. Remember how I said the ceiling could hold for a few millennia? I take that back. It looked like it would fall any minute!

"Guys, run!" Rex yelled. "Get back to the center area and try to climb out! This place is not safe anymore!"

Behind him, the slab on the coffin slid open. When the dead body wearing a golden-plated suit covering his whole body sat up, my legs almost gave way.

 _Preston POV_

I should probably talk about the room first before the walls fell away.

Our side has citrine on the surface of the corridor blocks. The tomb room has smooth stone for the ceiling, stone bricks for walls and cobblestone for the floor. In one corner is a peculiar looking coffin: round on the top and long on the bottom. Sort of like a human-size lollipop.

Around the coffin is an assortment on items: pots, a few stick-like items and some jewelry. None of us dared touching any of those items. The room is so creepy, and the lighting is so dim.

"There's basically nothing here," Neonz observed, which was pretty obvious. There are no paintings, no sculptures, nothing else that shows that this is a tomb.

"Maybe the owner of this tomb is poor," I guessed.

"I don't think that is possible," Aquarius countered. "We'd seen the Indian-looking one, and according to the other team, the Egyptian one is as fancy as the one we saw. It's not possible that they would let a commoner to be buried with rich people, possibly kings,"

"I still think the tomb owner is a commoner," Sky stood on my side. "Look at this place. It is not as fancy as the other tombs,"

"But this guy has jewels," She pointed at the pile of items. "How does a commoner have jewels?"

"I say we check inside the coffin," Deadlox suggested. "See how the people take care of the guy's body,"

Aquarius held up her hand to say something, but it's too late. Deadlox slid open the coffin and the walls of the room fell away with a rumble, revealing lots of skeletons. As we watched, skin began to grow on the bones until they looked somewhere between a zombie and a human.

When they opened their eyes, I felt like my brain had malfunctioned. Their eyes are dark like the void, and I felt like I was drowning with no one helping me. I saw them hopping off their positions and inching towards us, but my body refused to work.

"Run!" Aquarius yelled, breaking whatever spell they put me in. We bolted for the entrance, racing down the corridor as the skeletons on the wall grew flesh and opened their eyes. We got to the center room and saw the others staying on top staring down.

"What happened?" Zek asked. "Did an earthquake happen?"

"Deadlox opened the coffin and woke the dead!" Aquarius yelled. "Will tell you later! Get us out of here-"

The other team shot into the center room from their corridor. Rex had a gash on his arm, but otherwise he looks unharmed. I stared down the other corridors, and I'm pretty sure I almost wet my pants.

"Guys," I said, trembling. "There are things coming down the other corridors,"


	20. Chapter 20

**Here is the next chapter! :D Happy Summer Holidays for you guys, by the way. We have no summer holidays like you guys, so basically I still have school rn… :'( there are Chinese words in this one btw, and I did my best to add the translation. You guys won't mind, right?**

 _Nanosounds POV_

As the structure rumbled, the kids trapped on the altars screamed like their hearts are pulled out of their bodies alive. Metro fainted, followed by Mass. Hakime collapsed, but is still conscious.

"What happened?" Lachlan tapped the force field trapping Hakime. "Are you okay?"

"I feel like someone took all my energy," Hakime said. It's barely a whisper that he had to repeat it a number of times for Lachlan to actually hear him. "I think it's this building taking our energy to power something,"

I heard someone yelling, "Run!" from below us. I raced to the edge along with the others, and a while later, saw Aquarius' team bursting through the western corridor. Rex's team came from the eastern corridor a while later, and judging from their expression the situation wasn't pretty.

"双颖 (Aquarius' name)!" Rex yelled. "那边墙壁上有警告! 不可以打开棺材!(The wall there has a warning on it! We can't open the coffins!)"

"太迟了啦! (It's too late!)" Aquarius replied. "死Deadlox刚刚才开了我们这边的! (Stupid Deadlox just opened one on our side a while ago!)"

"What's with me?" Deadlox asked, apparently not understanding. Counting me, there are only 7 out of 24 of us who could understand and speak Chinese. Can't really blame them.

"What will happen if the coffins are opened?" I asked in English as I'm used to it. "There are tomb rooms down there?"

"Yes," Aquarius answered. "And if one is opened there would be an undead apocalypse,"

From my side, I saw a creature warped in bandage shot out of the northern corridor and grabbed Mitch's ankle. He screamed, of course, and stomped on the creature's arm with a satisfying 'crunch!' Everyone pulled out their melee weapons while we got our bows out. If we jump down too, we would never be able to get back up.

"Guys," Rex said. "Can you multitask while fighting?"

"Yea," Ian answered. "We got to be aware of our surroundings to not get killed, right?"

"Pretty much," Rex answered. "But we got to crack a mystery too. In the warning on our side, it says that only a holy three-headed dragon can get rid of these things we'd just released,"

"We have no holy dragons, though!" Preston reminded. "We're stuck here, and finding one might take days, even years! We don't have years!"

"How about you guys fight while we try to figure out?" Ashley suggested. "My instincts told me that we have this holy dragon around, but I just can't place the name,"

"Monsters are coming," Neonz said. "You guys think while we fight, okay? But you guys gotta be fast, or we might not survive,"

I turned to look at the King hybrids, and saw that the force field trapping them on the altars are gone. Metro and Mass lied on the floor funnily while Hakime tried not to fall over. He seemed to know where is this holy serpent, but I doubt we could make out his words before the others down there are killed.

"Guys," I said, deciding that it is better than nothing. "One or two of us go and see if Hakime knows where is the holy serpent; the rest of us stay by the hole and help those down there. We have to do this quick, though,"

 _Woofless POV_

I was ready to kill Deadlox for opening the coffin, but we have other things to worry right now.

We have mummies from the Egyptian tomb, zombie-humans from the Mesopotamian tomb, shriveled-skin zombies from the Indian tomb and statue-like people from the (apparently) Chinese one. All look scary, and I wished I could fly like back on Earth. Even thought it had just been a little while, it's fun.

"Okay, guys, here's the plan," Aquarius said as the strange creatures crept closer. "We split into four groups and counter each corridor. Got it?"

"There are no better plans, so yeah," Ian readied his sword. "But can we hold these guys off till the others figure out the holy serpent thingy?"

"We can only trust them," Rex swung his spear at an oncoming statue creature. "Here they come!"

I found myself fighting side by side with Preston. We fought with cooperation so well its like we'd fought together a lot of times. Well, we'd been reborn a number of times, so I guess that explains it. I smacked a zombie-human in the head, and Preston finished it off. Preston stabbed a mummy a couple of times, and I slice it apart. We made our way through the seemingly never-ending wave, slicing every monster in sight. It was fun, until Preston got stabbed in the gut.

"Gah!" I heard him yell. I turned just in time to see him fall with a grey blade sticking out his side. One of the statue man had stabbed him.

I remember blood roar in my ears. When I regain control of my memory, I saw creatures within 10 blocks radius of me was on fire. Some even disintegrated on the spot. The others (who weren't burned for some reason) stared at me, speechless.

"Dude," Mitch gasped. "You just burned those monsters. And you have blaze rods around you,"

I looked behind me. Sure enough, there were blaze rods arranged loosely like a pair of wings. There were roughly 18 blaze rods in total, and when I grabbed one of them, it transformed into a cleaver. Strangely, it feel balanced in my hands even though it looks heavy.

"Rob!" MetaCrisis1337 yelled from above. "Give us Preston! We'll try our best at healing him; you do your best surviving down there!"

Reluctantly, I lifted Preston upstairs by setting him on a stretcher of blaze rods. He gave me a thumbs up before Lachlan hauled him off the stretcher, and I knew that I could win this apocalypse.


	21. Chapter 21

**I know this is off-topic (kind of), but when is Minecon?**

 _Deadknight1404 POV_

I didn't realize I was that weak until the force field around the altar disappeared and I tried to support myself. I thought I would surely pass out just as Zek and Ashley came and eased me into a leaning position.

"Hakime," Ashley said. "Kim said that you seemed to know something about this holy serpent. Can you tell us quick?"

"We only have a short amount of time," Zek continued. "If we don't figure out fast enough the others are gonna get killed,"

When the others talked about a certain holy serpent a while ago, it triggers something in my head. I do know the whereabouts of this holy serpent, but I doubt they could figure out what I was saying before the others can't hold down this whatever apocalypse.

"It's us..." I said. My voice grew louder than before, but might still be too soft for the others to hear. I had to repeat a couple of times for them to figure out what I'm saying.

"You three?" Zek gasped. "You three are not serpents; you are humans! Well, technically, you're half a human, but-"

"I think he's right," Ashley said. "People of ancient times called dragons 'serpents' sometimes, and white things are considered holy. The massage said something about a three-headed serpent, which might refer to The King. These three are children of the dragon, so it should work just as well,"

I looked over at the hollow, where Preston was lifted up by a series of blaze rods. He had a sword sticking out of his side. Casualties are starting to happen.

"There's no time," I swept my eyes across the room. Metro and Mass are stirring. "We'd got to stop the monsters from killing the others. Get me and the other two to the entrance,"

Ashley called MetaCrisis1337 over. Together, they dragged us to the edge of the pit. I looked over the side and saw that the battlefield below wasn't pretty. Most people are wounded, but nothing as major as Preston's. Mitch's working well with Jerome, and so is Neonz, Rex and Aquarius. The Merome combo kind of triggered something in my mind, but right now we have better things to worry about.

"Hakime?" Mass asked weakly. "What happened?"

"Apparently someone down there open a coffin," Ashley answered for me. "And the structure took your energy to animate those monsters below. Only you guys can stop them,"

"Seriously?" Metro widened his eyes. "We're just a couple of kids! How are we supposed to stop them?"

"We've got to try," I felt my energy recovering, and I pushed myself up. "Hey, stop!" I yelled.

The monsters down there froze for a little while, giving our team advantage before getting overwhelmed by the excessive force. The power in my voice is too weak. I can't do much.

"Try saying it louder," EnderGirl suggested. I did so, and the monsters froze for the same amount of time. It doesn't work. What did I do wrong?

"Hakime?" Aquarius yelled from below. She had a gash on her left forearm. "That's just normal yelling. You've got to command them. Put some power in your voice,"

Command the monsters? Add power in my voice? I don't understand! I stared at her, and she glanced back at me. "Just imagine you're leading these guys! Or maybe you're making them do something! I dunno! Just do it!" I can sense desperation in her voice.

Ian got stabbed in his thigh and he stumbled, though he still tried to stand up and fight. The others looked like they can't hold back the monsters much longer, meaning I have to act quickly. I closed my eyes and take a deep breath, imagining that I'm trying to command my League of Legends ranked team to go according to my strategy (even though that had never happened).

My voice rang through the dungeon, which is a miracle as I'm still weak. The shrivelled zombies among the chaos down there stopped and looked at me as if waiting for my command. I'd never felt anything like it before, being able to give instructions to people. I could've made them do something else, but I'd got to save my friends down there.

"You will go back to your original positions," I said. "Without my command, you will not do anything. Understand?"

The zombies bowed their heads and marched into the southern corridor. Without the Indus zombies, the room below got a quarter less tight, but it didn't dial down the aggressiveness of the other monsters.

 _MetroAssasin POV  
_ "Why didn't the other monsters go away?" Ashley stared down in confusion. "Hakime, did you do it right?"

"I'm pretty sure I did," Hakime had almost recovered all his energy, and is able to sit up. "Maybe I'm only able to control one of the four monsters hoard. Metro and Mass had to do the rest,"

"That would be three hoards gone," Zek reminded. "What about the fourth one?"

"They would have to get rid of that hoard themselves," Hakime replied. "Metro, Mass, try it,"

Mass go first, and he is able to make the zombie-humans stop fighting, bang their heads on the wall several times (which doesn't seem necessary) and go back to where they belong. He said that he was going to make them dance ballet, but we didn't have the time.

"Guys?" I yelled, and almost everyone looked up. The others and the statues went back to fighting a second later while the mummies continued staring at me. I thought I'd have to yell something like 'Stop!' to be able to command them.

"You guys seemed tired," Their eyes looked so creepy, and my mouth started to talk without thinking. "How about taking a nap? Going back to those good dreams like all these had never happened before?"

"That's a lot like charm-speaking," Aquarius commented, risking a kick in Cementman's chest. "Don't mind me, go on,"

"Want good dreams? Good happy dreams with a beautiful seaside and lots of beautiful girls?" I heard Lachlan and Hakime trying to hold back laughter, but I went on. "You can get those, you know. Just turn around and go back to where you come from,"

The mummies turned around and marched into the Northern corridor. When they are out of our sight, Lachlan and Hakime burst out laughing. Hakime laughed so hard he almost fall of the edge. "Dude!" He said between giggles. "You sound like you're trying to coax a little kid back into their playroom!"

"It works, so how I did it doesn't matter," I got up on my knees and crossed my arms. "How about you save the laughter for later and go help them with those statues?

~~ Time Skip with the Power of clicky Razer Keyboards! (I really want one but I'd used it for writing stories only :P)~~

The statue mans were reduced to rubbles, and we found four keys lying in the remains of the killed monsters. The keys are made of the gems studded in the four corridors, and they fit the small holes in the middle of the room, which seems to be another altar. All of us jumped down to join them, and together we inserted the keys into their corresponding keyholes.

The altar rose from the ground. Underneath it is a glass cabinet with purple aura shimmering across the surface every now and then. The cabinet holds a staff with an orb on one end. It looks like an ender pearl, but it shines all shades of colours there were ever existed. The handle of the staff is bent in different directions, and had inscriptions carved onto it.

"This is all jumbled up," Rex stared at the staff handle. "Like gibberish. What is this thing and what is it for?"

"It's our prize," Aquarius reached out and touched the glass, where it dissolved into the air. "And it would look good in my collection. Hey, you guys wanna camp here before getting out? I've got a feeling that it's already nighttime,"


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry guys for not updating in such a long time :P Almost can't find time to do that, and the prewritten ones are running low. Didn't have time to write even though there's a one-week holiday for me :(**

 _Rex POV_

So, we left the dungeon without much problem thanks to the markings we made on the bridges. The problem is getting out of the main structure, which Aquarius had recommended climbing until Rob suggested that we could use his blaze rods as stairs to get up the floors. That part took some time, but we made it anyways.

We went round the big pool of water, which is a big lake. We didn't use boats, as most of us don't know how to row one **(it's the 1.9 kind mind you)**. The journey took us a few hours, and another day and a half to reach Ptah Town. As we go, we tried cracking the prophecy but all we got is that the half-bloods might mean us, since we are technically demigods. We got no further, and we're sure that we won't if we didn't have books.

~~Jump a little coz I can~~

"I didn't know that towns are farms," Hakime said. "At least we can sell those rare seeds we found in the dungeons. It's a pity to throw them away,"

EnderGirl parted with us at the center of the town, but not before leaving a marker on our magical map. She is going back to her family, and she promised us that she would visit us at Fiore if she ever can. She also promised to keep our secret, so we would at least be safe from someone yelling, "There's the hybrids!"

We went around the various farms, trading the rare seeds for food. Our supply is running low, and we need to get as much as we can. Not to surprise you, but Aquarius can eat a lot. Most of the time, it's her finishing the rest of the food in the pot because we're all full. She told me later that she usually eats little so we had enough, then she finishes the rest because she didn't like seeing the food wasted.

Anyway, one of the farmers/butchers asked for a cleaver instead of the seeds, and Aquarius pulled one out of her weapons pack straight away. She traded it for a bunch of steak, and Duncan kept on complaining about that. Every time he asks, Aquarius just told him to shut up. I know she's taking care of Hakime's religion problems, as his religion doesn't allow him to eat pork.

"I still think we should've gotten porkchops," Duncan continued. "We can grill them, or roast them, or-"

"Rude," Aquarius interrupted. "Stop saying that or I won't get it for you next time,"

Before Duncan could answer, someone yelled from a nearby blacksmith's. "Are you kidding me?! Five thousand to fix a ruby sword?!"

We peeked into the store and saw a guy of about 19 arguing with an old man wearing a black apron. The dude's clenched fist seemed to be on fire, and so were his eyes. I might be seeing things, though.

"Listen, James," The blacksmith seemed to know the dude. "That's the discounted price I'm giving you. Your sword has Sharpness and Unbreaking V on it, and twice as much Fire Aspect. It would take me a lot of mana to hold the enchantments in place while I fix the sword,"

"Fixing things needs mana?" Jason whispered. "This is new,"

"Come on, old man," The dude, James, answered impatiently. "I'm travelling to Fiore, and I need all the money I could possibly save up. Can you cut the price even more?"

"Sorry, James," The blacksmith shook his head. "I have a business here, and I can't give anymore discount even if your father is my best friend. Either you pay up or go with an almost broken sword,"

 _JeromeASF POV_

"Guys, wanna recruit him?" Aquarius turned around. "He's going to Fiore too, and his weapon seemed OP,"

"I know," Ian answered. "But his weapon is almost done, and we can't be sure if he would kill us as soon as he heard our secret,"

"I'll assure him that you guys aren't bad if he found out," MetaCrisis1337 assured. "But are you sure if you want to recruit him? Look at his attitude!"

"Same as Aquarius," Rex said. "Except she knows to be polite. This guy can't even do it,"

"I've got an idea," Vikk shook his hand to get our attention. "If you guys really want to recruit this guy, tell him that we'll pay for his sword-fixing fee and in return, he'll join us. How's that sound?"

No one objects cause it's quite a good idea. Then the problem comes: who is going to go and talk to that guy? Us guys pushed the job to each other until Aquarius muttered something and walked into the shop. "She can manage it," Rex grinned. "She just have to work up her nerves before doing something,"

Aquarius walked up to James and tapped his shoulder, making him jump. He spun around with his fists ready to swing, but stopped himself when he saw Aquarius. "Hey, dude!" Aquarius said cheerfully. "I kinda passed here a while ago and hear you yelling. You're travelling to Fiore, no?"

"Yeah, why?" James put his arms around himself. "I like to travel alone, so don't think of joining me,"

"Well, I'm not asking to join you," Aquarius shrugged. She's doing this real cool. "I'm asking you to join me, and a bunch of my friends. In return, we'll pay for your sword-fixing fee. Deal?"

James stared at Aquarius like she's crazy. "How many are there in your team?" He asked.

"Including me, 25," Aquarius counted her fingers. "You taking this offer? It's a one-time offer. You won't be getting the same one next time if you turned this down,"

"Travelling in a team is better, James," The blacksmith said. "The teammates can help each other, and conquering dungeons would be easier,"

James tilted his head for a moment. "Okay," He said at last. "I'll join you guys,"

Aquarius smiled and waved at Mitch, who is in charge of most of the money we earn. He walked into the store and stacked 50 gold coins on the counter. It took me a while to figure out the value of each coin. A bronze coin is 1 Koin, a silver one is 5, a golden one is 10 and a diamond one is 50. There is a rainbow colored one worth 100, but we had never seen it. Apparently the coin is very rare. There are only 100 of those, and some might be in the bottom of some random ravine.

The blacksmith took the coins and nodded at James. "Your sword should be ready by tomorrow," He said to James. "You guys can come by tomorrow and be on your journey,"

"Just get the sword done, old man," James said before walking out the door. All of us acted natural as he walked past. All he did was taking a glance at us before walking on.

Let's welcome James to our team, shall we?

 **You guys heard of Pokemon Go? I saw a comment in Lachlan's video saying that the game makes people go out in 24 hours while it took Michelle Obama 8 years to convince people to go out and have fun. That one is hilarious. I would have join the fun too, but it wasn't available in Malaysia yet. Any of you had played it?**


	23. Chapter 23

**Oh Dayuum! I hadn't updated for 10 days sorry guys xD kinda drifted into some other ships :P trying to push myself back into work sorry…**

 _BajanCanadian POV_

We found ourselves a place to rest for the day. Aquarius went to the local library, and of course she dragged Rex with her. They came back at around 10 p.m., and Aquarius is still reading a book. At least Rex is able to convince her to put down the book and get some sleep, or she'd read through the night.

Aquarius continued the book the next morning. It is about the prophecies that were told in this world, and tricks on deciphering one. She read that book through breakfast, and on our way to the blacksmith's. It's a wonder that she didn't trip or fall down the steps.

We arrived just in time as James, and Aquarius finished the book too. James collected his sword, and the old blacksmith offers to return the book for Aquarius. James' sword has a fiery glow, which matches pretty well with the ruby blade. If I could ever get a custom-made one, I'll get one just like his.

We set out on our way. There's nothing really exciting on the way, just random mobs popping up every once in a while as we trekked through the tall grass of the prairie. We stayed together for fear that spreading out in the tall grass would separate us and make us lost. Lachlan went away once in a while, but is still able to find us because he's taller than the grass. At least he can still see where he's going right?

James glared at the tall grass like he wanted to burn it, but if he did so we would've been burnt to death. Well, some of us are immune to fire, so we might survive. Or maybe we'd get chocked by the smoke. Either way, it won't be pretty.

Anyway, it took us half the day to get out of the prairie, and another half of the day to get through the vast desert. At the beginning of dusk, we got out of the desert and into a much better place where the temperature is a tad lower: the forest.

We set up camp right there and then, since none of us wanted to go any further. Kim made another pot and prepared the ingredients while Hakime and James got water from a nearby creek. Not sure if it's just me, but there's always water near our camp site. I guess it's just us being lucky. Anyway, the rest of us set up tents around the fire, which is the center of our camp. Rex found out how to make tents while we're at Town Ptah, so we don't have to make a house (which is troublesome) or find a cave to sleep in (which is very uncomfortable).

James brought only a sleeping bag, so MetaCrisis1337 offered to share the same tent with him. James wanted to refuse, but Meta pestered him so much he accepted it. We were just going to settle down from setting up the camp when something screeched. I hadn't had time to look up, but I'm sure the thing attacking us is HUGE.

 _CraftBattleDuty POV_

"Duck!" Aquarius yelled. We don't need encouragement as we duck from the oversize kamikaze pigeon. Because the sky was dark I couldn't be sure what the bird looks like, but the silhouette looks very familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before. I'm not sure, since we've saw so many things on this trip that I can't remember them all.

Ian whipped out his bow and tried shooting the bird, but it was flying too fast. Baki joined in a few shots later, but they'd only managed to graze its feathers. We'd never encounter anything so fast before. Not even Kim and Duncan, who'd played a lot of modded Minecraft.

"I wish we have CreeperMC5 here," Bodil complained. "He has so much practice with the crossbows that he should be able to hit this big giant bird,"

We continued ducking and attacking the pigeon until someone got annoyed (which happens 30 seconds later) and started pelting rocks at the bird. Miraculously, one hit the bird, and it crash-landed into some bushes nearby. Metro was going to go forward and poke it with a stick, but Kim stopped him.

"Careful," Kim warned. "The bird might not be dead. It can still kill you,"

Isaac and I crept towards the bush. We know that the bird is not dead, and it is very quick. I reached out my hand, half expecting the bird to shoot out of the bush and peck me. Maybe it'll make me blind too. I dunno. Let's hope it doesn't.

The bush shook a little, and the bird hopped out of it. Under the firelight, I saw that it has large wings, sharp talons, and a short, hooked beak. The upper part of the bird is brown with a cream-colored belly and flight feathers. Its head has red and yellow feathers that are nearly as long as its body. The fan-like feathers of its tail are red. Its beak and legs are pink, and there are Egyptian-like black markings around its eyes.

"Pidgeot?" I can't believe my eyes. "There are Pokémon in this world?"

The bird tilted its head as if it's studying me. I can't believe I'm really seeing my favorite Pokémon. This is unbelievable. I knelt down slowly and reached out my hand, and it came closer to me. It was calm until one of the debris from the campfire leaped onto its wing.

Pidgeot went into havoc immediately, flapping its wings and creating some sort of feather-filled shielding around us like those particle effects on some Minecraft servers. "Feather Dance," Isaac gasped. "It's trying to lower our attack power,"

"What the heck?" Metro started backing up. "Why are we going to attack it if it wasn't attacking us?"

"If you're startled, won't you attack first to make sure that you are safe?" Aquarius asked. She's got a point there. "I don't think splashing it with a bucket of water would calm it down,"

Pidgeot lunged, and I ran forward without thinking. I snatched it out of the air and pulled it into a hug. Pidgeot trashed in my arms at first, then calmed down as I whispered to it that everything would be alright. It doesn't matter that it is weighted 40kg and is taller than me when I sat down; somehow I just want it to be okay. **(OMG this sentence is so cheesy why did I write that xD)**

"Dude, how did you do that?" Mitch asked as I carried it to the campfire. "Did you guys have some sort of connection?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Somehow I feel like we're old friends, and hadn't seen each other in a very long time,"

"More than 20 years," Aquarius blurted. Under normal circumstances we would've think it's strange, but she'd been saying a lot of strange things recently that we ignored her.

Ashley tossed Pidgeot a few sliced carrots, and it gobbled them all up. It must have been starving for quite a long time. Maybe that's the reason it attacked us in the first place.

"Hey, Lachlan," Preston waved his hand before my eyes. "What are you gonna do with Pidgeot? We can't craft Pokeballs, and we didn't even find one in those dungeon chests,"

His words triggered a memory from a few days ago. I unzipped my backpack and pulled out a box. The Ender Dragon gave it to me on an 'accidental' visit to The End. If Preston hadn't mentioned about getting a Pokeball, I won't have remembered about it. I removed the top and dump the contents on to my palm.

Rex scooted over. "That's a Masterball, right? Tell me it's a Masterball,"

"It is," Duncan glanced over for a second. "But it needs to be put together, apparently,"

When I peeked in the box a few days back, I thought it's a whole Masterball. I'd only seen the cap of the ball, apparently. I stared at the jumble of parts. I'd never been good at putting things together.

"Can I do it?" Aquarius volunteered after a moment of silence. I handed the parts to her almost immediately. If no one is going to do it for me, I don't even know when I would finish making the ball.


	24. Chapter 24

**Can't wait for Pokemon Go to come out! Minecon too, even though I can't go :P**

 _iBaki961 POV_

It took me quite a while to get over the fact that Pokémon existed. Aquarius acted like it was nowhere near unusual while Lachlan looked like he is going to freak out (of course, he didn't). James studied Pidgeot with an unreadable expression. That guy is a mysterious person.

Aquarius finished putting the ball together after breakfast. According to her, putting together a Masterball wasn't so hard. Lachlan captured Pidgeot (more like putting it in the ball; Pidgeot wasn't even trying to escape), and we continued on our journey.

As we go, I can see mountains in the distance. I'm not sure if it's just me, but the mountains seemed to closing in. I can see that the others are stealing glances at the mountains as well, and are as clueless as I am. Either the mountain range moves or it is closing in on us.

Soon, I found out that I wasn't hallucinating. The mountain range on both sides closed in together, cutting off our route. No wonder Rex said having the map kind of sucks. We can see where we are going, but we don't know how the landscape is. It might be leading us straight towards a very big and deep meteor crater, and we don't even know it until we arrived at its edge.

"We can't climb over this," Mitch said after a while. "Either we build over or dig through it,"

"If that's doable, travellers would have done so ages ago," James sighed. "For some reason, the mountain has some sort of spell casted to prevent anyone from building or mining blocks out of it. Most travellers go around the mountain range,"

"How far is that, then?" Aquarius turned to James.

"Pass Zeus Empire, I think,"

"That is too far!" Simon pouted. "We came all the way from there, and we have to turn back?"

"There is another way to get over the mountain, though," James continued. "Somewhere in front is a small temple made of stone. There's a button in there. It makes us go through challenges to get to the other side, but no one knows what kind of challenge is there,"

"How do you know about this?" Ian tilted his head. "Don't think you've went through there before,"

"The older people told me. Duh," James rolled his eyes.

We spread out; searching for the stone temple James told us about. James didn't told us how the temple looks like, so I assume we're looking for some sort of stone structure built into the side of the mountain. Took us quite a while till Zek found part of its roof sticking out of the mountainside.

The temple IS small. Its five blocks long and three blocks wide with three-blocks tall pillars placed one block away from each other, holding up a roof made of stairs. There is a ring of stairs around the temple **(If you watch certain videos, there are structures like this, except it's made of quartz-related blocks and contains one lucky block)**. We have to squeeze to get in, and there's no way it could hold 26 of us. Zek (naturally - he found the temple), James, Aquarius, Isaac and me went in while the others stood outside.

Aquarius described the interior of the temple, which is nothing much. The temple is dark too, and it makes it hard for us to find the button in the temple. James told us that the button is stone, since wooden ones would rot away. It makes finding the button harder.

"How about we get Vikk and Lachlan in here?" Aquarius suggested after while of searching. "They are better at finding buttons than most of us. It would be quicker,"

Zek was going to send them in when Isaac patted my shoulder. He found the button at the other end of the temple, right behind the pillar on the left side. Before any of us could react, he pressed the button and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

"Did he die?" Zek gasped. "But mobs don't die in a puff of smoke. What happened?"

"He teleported," James said. "I'll go first in case he ran off," With that, he clicked the button and disappeared too.

Each one of us entered the temple and pressed the button. I went last to make sure no one gets left behind. I pressed the button, and was engulfed in white smoke.

 _AshleyMarie POV_

I'd expected the 'challenge' to be underground, not a hundred thousand blocks in the air.

We are on some sort of sky islands. Clouds glided along below us, and I can see the outline of the mountain range approximately 10 blocks above cloud level. When I got teleported here, I almost fell off the edge. Why didn't the makers of this place set the teleportation spot in the middle of the island?

I should probably explain about the challenge islands as well. There are 9 islands in total, where 8 islands formed a ring, surrounding one island in the middle. The island we're on has a wall filled with signs made of birch logs with a bronze snake statue on either side. I'm not sure if I was seeing things, but one of the statues seemed alive.

"Where are we?" MetaCrisis1337 asked, peeking over the edge. "God, this place is so high up,"

"Sky Islands, I think," James scratched his chin. "We can see a faint outline of it from Town Ptah when there are no clouds in the sky. I'd never knew what it's for until now,"

"If we are going to do a challenge, what is it, then?" Mitch asked. "These islands look like a map for Hunger Games. Are we doing one?"

"Nope," Jason answered, eyes not leaving the birch log wall. "Each of these islands has their own challenge, and we have to complete them to get to the next island. The island in the middle is where the last challenge is. If we passed that challenge, we can get to the other side of the mountain,"

"So there are 9 challenges in total?" Sky looked around the island. "What is the challenge on this island, then?"

One of the snake statues moved all of a sudden. It sprang onto the top of the birch log wall and bared its fangs at us. Jason backed up into Isaac and Duncan in shock, and they have to steady him. Simon unsheathed his sword slowly, his eyes not leaving the bronze snake. The snake steadied itself, then hissed in a raspy voice.

"Come forth, travellers," It hissed. "Welcome to the Island of Riddles,"


	25. Chapter 25

_Bodil40 POV_

"Oh my goodness!" Mass yelled. "That statue actually talks!"

"I'm not a statue, unless you're talking about that replica of me over there," The bronze snake rolled its eyes. "No, boy. I'm not a statue. I'm a snake, or more precisely, I'm an automaton,"

"Robots with artificial intelligence?" Aquarius tilted her head. "I've read about it somewhere before,"

"You're right, girl," The snake automaton nodded. "To make it easier for you, you can call me Snake. I would've introduce the other automatons as well, but I'll just let them do that themselves,"

"Soooo….." Sky raised an eyebrow. "What are automatons do? Do they punish us when we didn't complete the challenge?"

"That is one of our jobs, yeah," Snake nodded. "Our other job is to deliver your challenge. As you've know, you are on the Island of Riddles, so your challenge is to answer the riddles, naturally. Though I'll have to warn you that each of you could only participate in each challenge once, so think carefully who to send,"

It started scratching its head with its tail, which seems unnecessary since robots don't usually feel. Maybe this one was programmed to feel itchy once in a while. We gathered in a circle and started talking about our strategy. It wasn't easy, since there are people that we don't know that well, and we are not sure who is good at riddles.

"I hadn't answered any riddles since I graduate," I said. "But I'm sure I can still remember most of it. None of my friends at school can beat me,"

"I'm coming along," Aquarius said suddenly. "In case there are some riddles that you can't answer,"

The others figured that it is a good idea, and so they sent Aquarius and me. We stood before Snake and waited for it to finish scratching its head. The automaton didn't seem to notice us, though. I have the sudden urge to tear off its head, but of course I won't have the strength to do that.

Snake is finally done with his scratching. "Oh, there you are," It said it like it hadn't seen us, which wasn't true. While Snake scratched its bronze head, it opened its eyes a few times. I found that statement quite annoying. "Ready for your challenge?"

"If we weren't," Aquarius muttered. "We won't be standing here,"

"Bring it on, Snake," I said. "What are your riddles?"

"There are three in total," Snake answered. "Two of them come in package, I'll tell you beforehand. Now, let's start with the first riddle. What has 4 legs at dawn, 2 legs at noon, and 3 legs at twilight?"

I was sure that I'd seen it somewhere before, or maybe some of my ex-classmate had asked me this. I don't know, and I wasn't sure about the answer anyway. I stole a glance at Aquarius, and saw that she's looking at me as well. She sighed.

"You don't know the answer, do you?"

I shook my head. She just rolled her eyes and turned to Snake. "It's a human. Crawling at the beginning of their age, walking when they grew up, and depends on a walking stick when they are old. Am I right?"

Snake dipped its head. "Correct," It announced, and the others behind us let out the breath they are holding. "Next riddle. This one is a package. What kind of mouse walks on four legs?"

"Mickey mouse!" I blurted. This part of the riddle is easy enough.

"Correct. What kind of duck walks on four legs?"

"Donald-" I started, but Aquarius cut me off.

"What makes you think only Donald walks on two legs? Do the other ducks crawl?"

I realize she was right. "All ducks walk on two legs," I answered.

"Correct. What kind of bird walks on two legs?"

I was going to answer 'all birds', then stopped myself. This one covers god knows how many birds, and I can't think of any of it on the spot. I nudged Aquarius beside me. "Hey, can you think of any?"

"Ostrich and chicken," Aquarius said. "Is that correct?"

 _Neonz POV_

I almost thought they didn't pass that question when Snake nodded.

"Final package of riddles," It hissed. "How many steps does it take to put an elephant in a refrigerator?"

"Four?" Bodil answered after a while, making me laugh. The others and I had heard this riddle a lot at school. Aquarius would know this.

"Three," Just as I thought. "Open the refrigerator, put the elephant in, close the refrigerator,"

"What?" Bodil asked. "How is that possible?"

"Snake didn't mention the size of the refrigerator," Aquarius huffed. "Is my answer correct?"

"Yes. Next one. The lion king had a birthday party. Why wasn't the elephant there?"

"It is still trapped in the refrigerator," Bodil answered immediately.

"Correct. The ant rode a bike to fetch the elephant. When he passed the desert, there is only a straight print on the sand. Why?"

"The ant is riding a bike," Aquarius said immediately.

"Correct. James just got home, and is going to get a can of Cola from the fridge, but he'd already knew that there is an ant in the fridge. Why?"

"The ant's bike is parked in front of the refrigerator," Still Aquarius. Bodil's mouth is hanging open in surprise, and so are the others. "How are you getting all of these answers?"MetaCrisis1337 asked.

"I don't know," Aquarius shrugged. "I just know the answer. I don't know how either,"

"Correct," Snake stuck out its forked tongue. "Next one. The ant took the elephant by its bike to the party venue. On the way, an accident happened. The elephant is severely injured. A lot of small animals rushed to the hospital to donate their blood, but why did they turn back?"

"The ant is already donating its blood," Still, it's Aquarius. Bodil looked like he wants to sit in a random corner and draw circles on the floor.

"Correct. Next one. The elephant decided to go thank the ant after it got better, but as soon as it reached the ant's front door, it is severely injured again. How did this happen?"

"Dude," Lachlan wiped a drop of sweat off his brow. "It's just getting weirder and weirder,"

"The father of the ant is sunbathing at the front door," Aquarius answered after a moment. "The elephant didn't see him, so he got tripped,"

"Correct," By this time, almost everyone is facepalming. "The elephant is sent to the hospital once again, but this time it died. Why did that happen?"

"No one is donating blood to it anymore," Aquarius is practically dominating the challenge.

"Correct. Later, the animal court searched for the culprit of this incident. Guess who is found guilty?"

"The refrigerator," Aquarius answered, and Mitch looked like he would fall over.

"Correct. You passed this challenge. You may proceed," Snake nodded as an oak bridge materialized between this island and the next one. It went back to its original position and stopped moving.

"Dude, how are you doing that?" Hakime ran towards Aquarius. "You just went through the whole thing without breaking a sweat! How did you know all the answers?"

"The others are asking them at school," She replied. "The last one is from a TV show, and I kind of memorized it,"

"Come on, guys," Rob and Preston are already at the bridge. "We can't really stay on these islands for the night, can we?"


	26. Chapter 26

_MetroMass POV_

"Welcome to the Island of Battles!" A voice boomed, almost scaring me into falling off the bridge. A bronze lion hopped onto a beautifully-carved rock in the middle of the island and stared down at us. I hid behind Hakime instinctively; that gaze seemed to bore down into my mind, searching for my weakness. I whimpered and buried my face in his back.

"You should've known the rules," The lion continued. "Anyone who'd participated in previous challenges is not allowed to take part in the remaining ones. Clear?"

"Yeah," Duncan nodded. "What are we doing here?"

"Battle," It answered. "You are to battle a colosseum of zombies. Win this and you pass,"

"It's a fight, guys," Aquarius turned to us. Most of the team is older than her, but we listened to her somehow whenever she talked. "I suggest putting five people into this challenge. Any teammate suggestions?"

"Jerome and Mitch," I said. "They are good at PvP,"

"In game," Jerome reminded. "I say we put Meta and James on the list first,"

The two agreed, meaning there are three spaces to be filled. "I think Jason should go too," Simon tapped Jason's helmet. "This thing can protect his head from the zombies,"

"I think the zombies would most likely attack my body," Jason must've rolled his eyes. "Unless they do go for the brain like in PvZ. Okay, count me in,"

"What's PvZ?" Meta asked.

Metro took him aside and explained it to him. "Two spaces left," I counted my fingers. "I still think we should have Jerome and Mitch in as well,"

"Are you two okay with this?" Aquarius turned towards the two. "You guys are the only other ones that we think can fight well. If you don't like it we can always find someone else,"

"I guess we have no choice. Right, Mitch?" Jerome elbowed his friend, who nodded in response. They're in.

"Competitors chosen?" The lion asked. "Please stand around this pillar. The others please back away,"

We did as we're told. The lion stamped its foot and we found ourselves on the seats of an ancient-looking stadium; the original Colosseum in Rome, according to Hakime. The five chosen ones stood in the middle of the fighting zone, backs facing each other. Our host sat on a balcony which looks like a spot for royal subjects.

"Ready?" The lion seemed to be grinning. Let the games begin!"

The gates on the four cardinal points opened, and soon the arena is filled with zombies of all shapes and size with different gear. It's a spectacular sight: James' sword lighting up the mobs, Meta twirling around like a killer ballet dancer, Mitch and Jerome fighting in an indestructible pair, and Jason slicing enemies with his sword and whacking zombies with his tail. He lost his 'jetpack' somewhere through the fight. If he got enough training he could start withering those mobs as well.

A few seats to my right, Aquarius did not cheer for the others. Her eyes radiated fear, which seems kind of unnecessary. Our friends were practically dominating. There is no need to worry for them. I was going to tell her to drop that expression when someone yelled. Mitch was hit in the head with a shovel. He collapsed on the ground, out cold.

The zombies nearby shuffled towards him immediately for unconscious fighters are an easier target. Jerome tried fending the mobs away from Mitch, but the force is too overwhelming. Desperate, he chucked his sword away and threw himself over Mitch as a human shield.

 _Skydoesminecraft POV_

I was shocked when I saw Jerome did that. Rob and Deadlox tried jumping into the battle field, but they were pushed back by an invisible barrier. Metro and Mass called for the other three competitors' attention, and they started making their way towards Jerome and Mitch, who'd both disappeared under the layers of zombies.

"Jerome! Mitch! Hold on! We are coming!" Jason made his way through the swarm of zombies, whacking away the undead in the process. Now that the arena is pretty much cleared, our friends can see each other. James froze when he saw Jason's Wither tail. He moved his sword a little, then advanced.

Jason was almost at where Merome was when a force knocks everything back, kicking up a cloud of dust. When it'd cleared, Jerome stood there, covered in scratches. He is carrying Mitch over his left shoulder. Eight greyish-white tentacles grew out of his back, waving slowly in the air. His eyes were glowing red.

"Uhm, guys?" Baki said slowly. "Is that bad?"

The zombies that hadn't been knocked dead got up and continued shuffled forward, but before they could get close enough to Jerome to do damage he snatched them up with those tentacles and flung them against the sides of the arena. That force would have smash all the bones in a human's body into pieces, and possibly making a bloody mess. In the zombies' case, they just disintegrate as soon as they hit the wall.

"Oh my god, Jerome," Jason's mouth is hanging open. "How did you do that?"

Jerome turned to Jason. He raised his hand and ribbons of fire started forming into a ball. Judging from the rate of forming, I predicted that it would take him exactly three seconds to fully summon one.

"Jason!" I yelled. "Duck!"

Before Jerome could shoot the fireball, Mitch lifted his head. "What happened?" He asked, looking around.

Jerome jumped, and the fireball extinguished itself. His glowing red eyes had turned back to its normal colors. "Mitch? You okay?"

"The challengers had won!" The bronze lion roared. The coliseum scene turned back to the grassy floating island, and the lion grinned at us before dissolving into a cloud of bronze smoke. "You passed!"

"Mitch you okay?" Jerome asked, setting the Canadian down. Mitch collapsed as soon as his feet touched the ground, so Jerome had to support him. Jerome hadn't changed back to normal, though.

"Yeah, I guess," Mitch rubbed the back of his head. "OW! On second thought, no I wasn't,"

"How did you do that, Jerome?" Rex asked. "How did you get your powers back and all?"

"I don't know," He admitted. "I just think that I can't let the zombies hurt Mitch. Then it happened,"

I saw a fiery mirage out of the corner of my eye, and I turned to see James standing behind me. The battle has ended, but he did not sheathe his sword. "What's up, James?" I asked.

"You are not supposed to have hybrids in your team," He said coldly. "I think I should know the reason,"


	27. Chapter 27

_iBaki961 POV_

"What do you mean?" Sky asked, acting like he understand none of James' sentences. He looked calm, but I can see that his hands are trembling. We were actually risking our own lives by taking this dude into the team. Now we might get killed.

"You know very well what I mean," James pointed his sword at Jason and Jerome. "These two are hybrids, which were getting hunted down right now. You shouldn't have had them in your team,"

"But they're strong," Aquarius protested. "Good to bring along on these adventures,"

"This is against the rules," James insisted. "Plus, you get more money by turning them in, dead or alive,"

"We are not turning in our friends," Metro said, crossing his arms. "Friends are more valuable than money,"

"Well, then," James shrugged. "I guess I'll have to kill them," He heaved his sword and lunged.

Hakime intercepted him in hybrid form. We found out before that dragon scales are as hard as diamonds, so the boy's hand is unscathed. James freed his sword from Hakime's hand and backed away, his eyes gleaming.

"Three hybrids," He grinned. "Dad would be proud of me,"

"Can anyone tell him that we aren't bad guys?" Aquarius drew her battle axe. "If we are undercover, why are we letting our enemies into our team?"

James did not listen to her. He swings his sword, and Hakime barely had time to step away. The fire aura of James' sword singed his clothes.

Everyone drew their weapon. Rob, Metro and Mass switched into hybrid form. None of us are going to back down from this fight now that James had almost hurt one of our friends.

"Guys!" MetaCrisis1337 ran between the two parties. "Put down your weapons, okay? I'm sure we can talk about this,"

We did as he said, but not James. Kind of understandable. Those who'd got their hybrid powers unlocked didn't change back either, just in case.

"What is it, kid?" I can tell that James is fuming, but trying to contain himself. I've saw that reaction on teachers at my school a number of times. "Didn't you know that these were the bad guys?"

"They reborned," Meta answered. "And apparently they remembered nothing about their past lives,"

"And you believe them?" James lifted an eyebrow. "Listen, kid. These people had killed hundreds of people. You are not supposed to hang out with criminals,"

"They are good people," Meta scrunched up his face. "I barge into their camp one raining night, and they let me stay. They even give me food,"

"They might poison you,"

"I dunno," Aquarius tossed her hair. "How much is a vial of poison? I didn't see one in the market,"

James glared at Aquarius. "Don't think I don't know your plans. You're trying to regain our trust, then continue your schemes. I won't allow that,"

Aquarius doesn't seem to care about that comment, though her eyes told otherwise. "In that case, Notch won't have us sent back here, right? All of us have our work to do, and we didn't really have to come here and save the world for you,"

"Did Notch said that?" I asked. I didn't recall Notch saying anything about saving the world.

"Yes, he did," Aquarius answered. "The Wither is awake, and apparently he wants to take over this world and our world. Can't really let that happen, can we?"

James softened a little, though I can see that he is not giving in easily. "I'll watch all of you," He pointed his sword at us. "If you ever harm anyone-" He let the treat hung in the air. I know that he won't go easy on us if we did anything wrong.

"Come on, guys," Meta broke the silence. "Next island. Didn't you guys said that we should get out of here before dark?"

 _CraftBattleDuty POV_

"Welcome! Welcome!" The strange-looking pig robot with long nose grinned at us. Unlike the two automatons we had seen before, this one is painted black and white like a panda. I was sure I'd saw it before on the internet, but I can't remember what it is called.

"What animal are you?" I asked the automaton. It tossed its head and continued to grin at us. I feel like kicking it aside, for some reason.

"A Tapir," Rex answered. "I thought not many people know about this animal? Why is there an automaton of it?"

The tapir continued grinning for no apparent reason. Without warning, Aquarius lashed out and kicked the tapir in its nose. "Stop grinning, dude," She grunted. "What's the challenge here?"

The tapir continued grinning like that kick hadn't bothered it at all. "Games," It explained. "Play all three games, and you pass,"

"Just play?" Preston raised an eyebrow. "It wasn't so hard then,"

"For us, it wasn't," Rex pointed at the various items scattered around the island. There were pieces of chalk, a couple of stones, pieces of string and tops. "And these games aren't easy. Especially the tops. It takes skills,"

"Who's going, then?" Zek asked. "I mean, someone that is good in all three games,"

"Kim?" Rex asked. "You should know how to play all these games, right?"

"I've never tried playing the top," Kim answered. "I'm okay with the other games,"

"I've played tops before," I volunteered. "But not that kind. I'm sure I can do it, anyway,"

"Excellent," The automaton said before we could react. "Would you two please follow me into the circle? The others would just have to wait outside,"

Me and Kim stared at each other, then followed the tapir into the playing circle. The automaton took us to the chalks, where it drew boxes on the stone ground. "Pass this, and you can move on to the next one," It said.

"Wait. You won't explain to us about the games?" I asked. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"You've already know the rules," The tapir answered. "Just go ahead and play,"

I was going to kick the tapir like how Aquarius did when Kim put a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. I know how to play this,"


	28. Chapter 28

**I realized I hadn't added much author's notes these few chapters. I really have nothing to say. But I have one now.**

 **Lee Chong Wei won the silver medal for Malaysia, and we are proud of him ;)**

 **Even though some are frustrated for not having a holiday on Monday xD**

 _Nanosounds POV_

"How do you play this, then?" Lachlan asked. "I've saw people played it, but I don't know the rules,"

"It's easy," I said. "First, you threw a stone onto any of the boxes. Then, you hop along the grid. You can only have one foot on the ground at one time, and the box where your stone landed in cannot be stepped on. You want me to demonstrate?"

"Sure,"

Tapir drew an aeroplane-like grid. 3 vertical boxes with 2 side by side boxes followed by 1 box on top. It looks like this:

[ ]

[ ] [ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

I chose a stone and tossed it across the grid. It landed on the left box on the forth row, which is the easiest one to do. I hopped across with one leg all the way to the end, turn around, pick up the stone, and hopped hack to the beginning.

"That's how you do it, Lachlan," I handed him the stone. "Now you try it,"

He tossed the stone, and it landed at the very last block of the grid. He turned to me. "How do I do this?"

"You can stand with two legs at the forth row," I told him. "One leg in one box. That part is like the resting stop. You should be able to do this,"

He hopped across the grid with no problem. When he picked up the stone and tried to turn over, he almost fell. Good thing he was on his two feet instead of one. He balanced himself, then hopped back.

"Excellent work!" Tapir grinned. It then lead us to the playing field with tops. "Knock your opponent out of the circle, and you win!"

"What happens to the loser?" Lachlan asked. "Would they get thrown out of the island?"

"No, of course not!" Tapir seemed surprised. "If that happens every time someone loses a game, no one would want to play traditional games anymore. Oh, by the way, you are allowed to do a test play before challenging each other,"

"That's good to know," Lachlan remarked, picking up a top and a string. "Hey, Kim, do you know how to play this?"

"Kinda," I picked up another set of tops. "If my memory serves me correctly, we have to wind the string around the top, then hold the top in our hand and grip the loose end of the string. Then, we throw the top into the circle while pulling the string backwards at the same time,"

I did a test spin on my top. It hit the sandy ground with its pointed bottom and stays there, spinning for a heartbeat before stopping. "I guess that's the best I could do,"

"So, how do we win this?" Lachlan's questions were directed at the tapir automaton. "Do we knock the opponent out of the circle or what?"

"Whose top stays spinning in the circle wins," Tapir replied. "Or you can choose to play another version of the game,"

"No, I think this one is okay," He turned to me. "On three, Kim?"

We threw out our tops. Lachlan's spun longer than mine, so he wins naturally. The tapir lets us keep the winning top, and we move on to the next game.

 _BajanCanadian POV_

Because the rest of the island challenges are boring (to me), I would just briefly explain it just so you could get a picture of it.

Kim did a very good job at the last game, which I wasn't sure about the name. It consists of five stones (or according to Aquarius, anything small), and the basic way of playing it is to drop them, letting it spread out randomly. Then, one player pick up one, throws it in the air and picks up another one before the one in the air hits the ground. This is continued until all the objects are picked up. Kim did it flawless while Lachlan may have dropped one or two stones when playing. Since the tapir robot stated that if one player wins, it doesn't matter if the other failed. The automaton bid us goodbye, open up the bridge for us, and disappeared into a panda-themed smoke cloud.

The next island, the forth, is the Island of Labyrinths. The automaton there is a sheep, and it let all of us go into the maze, which changes its routes every once in a while and has al kinds of surprises lurking around. Hakime foresaw exploding chainsaws, and that is actually a thing. At least all of us got out alive.

We went through the next few islands, which wasn't that exciting. There's the Island of Rhymes, where you gotta make up something that rhymes with the automaton's. Then there's another one where we have to do all kinds of obstacle course and has to be faster than the host. We sent Ian on that, and he swore that he doesn't want to see another obstacle course again.

"These challenges seemed pointless," Jerome pointed out after Deadlox almost fell into the lava on one parkour course island. "What does parkouring and rhyming has to do with our adventures?"

None of us know. Then again, we are trying to get to the other side of the mountain, so we shouldn't be complaining about it. They might be testing us on our various random skills, or they are using us as entertainment.

Finally, we made it to the ninth island, which is the last one. There is a cathedral built on it with an automaton standing in the middle of the courtyard, but it doesn't look like anything we've seen before. It has the head, wings and legs of an eagle and the body and tail of a lion. The robot stared down at us like it is surveying its prey, but it didn't say a word.

"What are we supposed to do here?" James got impatient. "Stare at this – creature?"

"Let's have a look around," Aquarius is already examining the pedestal the griffin perched on. "Maybe this automaton isn't supposed to talk. Let's look around and see what we could find,"

We spread out into the seemingly-abandoned cathedral, studying the mural and carvings on the walls. A few parts had fallen off, but I can still make out the story of it. It's classic church things: pictures of angels and gods forgiving the wrongdoings of humans, blah blah blah. I walked through the vast corridors until I came to the main hall. The place seemed normal, but it felt wrong. I felt like there is something that should be there.

"Jerome," I shook his hand, since he's just walking beside me. "Did you see anything out of place? Or something that doesn't seemed right in here?"

"Why are you asking that?" He asked, but his eyes had started darting across the room. "Is something wrong?"

"This place doesn't feel right," I replied. "I know it, but I can't place-"

Jerome covered my mouth. I shot him a quizzical look and saw his eyes trained on the stage. I followed his gaze and saw the one thing that I might not be able to get out of my mind.

A woman stood on the podium. I assumed that it is a she, because it had very long black hair. Through the thick black hair, I can make out white clothing. A white robe, that's what. That wouldn't had seemed out of place if its hands sticking out doesn't look shrivelled and seemed to be green, or it seemed to be floating, or the fact that it seemed to be looking straight at us.

We backed up together without exchanging one word or exchanging glances. Our eyes stayed trained on the strange figure, which looks creepy in the evening light. We'd just make it to the end of the corridor when the figure moved, jumping onto the rows of seats and climbing towards us.

We bolted.


	29. Chapter 29

**Guest: No you aren't even late! I'll add yours to the story don't worry!**

Aquarius POV

I heard rapid footsteps down the corridor Merome went, almost obscuring the scratching noise that seemed too creepy to be in the dark cathedral. I retraced my steps back to the courtyard just in time to see the two stumbling in as well, a creature I knew too good crawling behind them at a very fast pace.

"Don't get killed!" I yelled. "If not, you're gonna replace it here till someone came along for you to kill!"

"Easy for you!" Jerome shouted back. "You're not the one getting chased!"

I unlatched my battle axe and hurled it at the creature. The blade embedded itself in its head, yet it kept moving. I was going to whip out my bow when I saw black liquid ooze from its head, and its pace seemed to have slow down. Its head seem to tilt to one side too.

"Guys! It slowed down! Kill it!" I nocked an arrow in my bow. I hadn't used it in forever, according to my brain/memories. I pointed it at the creature, did a brief calculation, and released it. It pierced right through its neck, decapitating it. It fell to the floor, motionless.

"What in the world was that?" Mitch came up to me. "Do you know this thing?"

"Yeah," The memory had haunted me when I was 12, and it still does now. "It's from those ghost stories back home. It's a girl, if I'm not mistaken, and they are stuck in this world until someone takes their place. I don't know the details, so we better don't go close to it,"

The others piled into the courtyard, obviously attracted by the commotion. Mitch and Jerome relayed whatever I'd said to them, word by word. I stole a glance at the griffin automaton and saw that its eyes might have turn our way a little, and even that small action sent a chill down my spine.

Since when I was so observant?

"So, you guys sure that it is dead?" Meta pulled out a stick and crept near the supposing ghost. "I'd never seen a corpse lying around. All of them just disintegrated,"

Yeah. All the dead mobs we've saw just turn into a cloud of smoke. None of them stayed in this state, unless…

"Get away, Martin!" I yelled. "That thing wasn't dead yet!"

Too late. The body shot up all of a sudden and buried its fingers in Meta's right arm. The wound started smoking, and he writhed in pain. I can see green the color of a pale zombie spreading along his arm through his jacket sleeve. The ghost is claiming Meta as its next victim.

I watched as the ghost thing raised its other hand to grab Meta's other arm, and I lunged forward without thinking. The ghost grabbed my arm just as well, though its eyes suggested that it is confused, and yeah its head is still decapitated.

My arm feels like someone is pouring boiling water on it repeatedly, but without the burns and water. I saw that a blade of some sort is sticking out of the top of Meta's right arm, though he seemed too much in pain to make any use of it. I have to do something, or else both of us might be stuck here, or possibly half of our soul. Won't want that to happen.

Ignoring the pain in my left arm, I drew a dagger and stabbed it in the ghost's heart (or where it is supposed to be). It howled, letting go of both of us. We backed up quickly just as Ian shot an arrow down its throat. It disintegrated, thank god.

"Are you okay?" My arm is screaming in pain, but at the moment I'm more concerned about Meta. I rolled up its sleeve and saw that the green is fading away. The fingermarks are still there, and I'm sure a bit of bandage would fix it.

"I'm fine," Meta nodded. "Wait. That green wasn't going away like mine,"

I looked down at my arm. The color had reached my elbow and it did not go away like Meta's nor is it going any further. Something's wrong.

"Is that normal?" Ashley came over. "No. It's definitely not. How are we gonna fix this?"

"Saving Meta is more important," I waved my other hand. "I am okay, I swear,"

The griffin automaton stood up all of a sudden and turned to me. Under normal circumstances, I would've either stare in horror or faint, but none of that happened. Instead, I stared it down, like I'd saw all kinds of stuffs in my entire life.

"What do you think you are, a savior to this world?" The griffin spat.

Rex POV

Long silence between us two parties. If stares are guns of any form, Aquarius would have been riddled with over a thousand bullets and the automaton would have dents all over its body.

"I didn't think that," Aquarius said finally, with a hint of coldness in her voice. "What makes you say so?"

"I believe you were trying to save this boy without thinking about your safety," The griffin ignored the question. "I'm happy to say you succeeded, but you won't be able to get that curse out of you unless you have a sorcerer of any form with you,"

The fingers on her left arm twitched. "Doesn't matter," She answered. "I value my friends' lives more than mine. Not your business,"

"Suit yourself," It shrugged. "You're right; it wasn't my business. But I'm here to warn you that you'll soon find one of your friends dead. I'd warned you before, but you are so stubborn you won't listen to me,"

"Uhm, good sir?" Ian waved his hands in the air so he gets the griffin's attention. "What are we supposed to do here?"

"Your friend here just did it," The automaton answered. "She showed bravery in saving her friends, though I'll say beforehand that it won't work in extreme situations,"

"Do you mean she might abandon us?" I can't believe my ears. Back at school, Aquarius was the legendary daredevil, breaking her friends out of trouble by putting herself in. I can't imagine she would do something like that.

"I didn't say that," Now the griffin is taking Aquarius' sentence. "Ah, well. You should be on your way, aren't you? Can't really camp out in this haunted cathedral, could you?"

A circle of red energy appeared around us. I barely had time to register the color red as a color of evil before I blacked out.


	30. Epilogue

The End was unusually quiet today. All the Endermen did not even try to step out of their houses, for it is the gods' annual meeting. Just being in the presence of all the gods would literally burn one's skin right off. Only the hybrids and the ones chosen to be the gods' servants would not be affected.

First god arrived is the one and only Herobrine. He strolled off the platform in a relaxed manner, wondering about the lack of creatures around even though he knows the truth. Steve and Alex followed behind, a seemingly awkward couple. They separated once they reached mainland, Alex admiring the foliage (which she's seen a thousand times) while Steve started a conversation with Herobrine.

The Skeleton came next with the Spider and the Creeper, all in human form. They weren't used to the airy environment of The End, but had no choice as the meeting had to be held here. The realm is almost like the center of the Minecraft world.

The rest of the gods, major or minor, arrived a while later, and the Ender Dragon invited them in. Then walked past Endstone walls decorated with tapestries and banners and portraits. One looked suspiciously like a 3 years old kid's work, showing a misshapen face of the Ender Dragon in dragon form. It looks like a lizard with purple scales and claws far too big for it. It looks more like a doodle than a portrait.

Finally, the party stopped before a set of giant doors made of obsidian. The symbols of the realms were carved into it, indicating that this part of the castle is accessible only for important occasions, in this case the meeting.

The gods took their place around the hall overlooking a podium with four seats reserved for someone else. Exactly like a few decades ago, they had not shown up for any of these annual meeting.

"I suppose we should start without them again," The Ender Dragon sighed, ignoring the fact that Herobrine had just put his legs on the desk. In fact, he does that every time. "So, anything you want to report?"

"My people reported that The Wither is creating replicas of all mobs existed," The Skeleton spoke. "They would have white glowing eyes, according to them. He can't create humans, though, so I think that is a relief,"

"That's good," The Ender Dragon nodded. "At least we are sure that our kids have someone they can trust,"

"The hybrids?" Magma Cube stood up. "They are back?"

"The major ones, yes," Lich answered. "We are trying to find the others. No doubt that it would take some time,"

"Then how did you guys find the major ones in the first place?" Magma Cube didn't seem convinced. "I thought we'd casted a spell on them so they won't be found?"

"Apparently the Ender broke the spell," Lich shrugged. "She has a temper, apparently,"

"So there are 24 hybrids hanging out in the overworld," Slime counted his slimy fingers. "Won't that attract The Wither's attention? Their aura is strong,"

"We can only hope they made it to safety before The Wither get to them," The Ender Dragon sighed. "I'll try sending my daughter a message. Do my best to warn her,"

"I'll inform my people to keep an eye on them," Spider volunteered. "But most of them are a wild bunch even I couldn't control them,"

"You still remember my promise, sister dear?" Everyone thought Herobrine had fell asleep, like at most meetings. "If they are breaking the rules and all, I'll teach them a lesson for you,"

"Oh, of course I remember," Spider answered. "But we have more important things to discuss; I'm sure you know that,"

"I'm sure that you've started tracking the minor ones, Lich," The King Ice tapped the desk. "Do you have any progress?"

"Right now, we are trying to track my son," Lich answered. "We still hadn't made any progress yet…"

Lich's staff glowed pink **(idk why I made it pink xD)** , meaning she's gotten a message. She waved her staff, and Galactical letters flashed across the tip. Hydra tried sneaking a peek at the message, but it is flashing too fast he can't get anything.

"So, who's that?" Blaze asked, huffing smoke in the process. Lich looked away from her staff, a smile playing on her lips.

"Looks like we'd found a son of Lich,"

 _ **Next up – Minecraft Battle : The Truth Unravels (out now)**_


End file.
